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Saturday, December 22, 2012

Surrey Youth Entrepreneurial Community



Work on your goals and your goals will work on you
Did you know that 98% of the BC economy is composed of small businesses? Entrepreneurship is the heart of our economy. But why does entrepreneurship matter to me?


Entrepreneurship helped bring out the best in me and it continues to do so. That’s why the quote by Jim Rohn resounds with me. Entrepreneurship has helped me develop leadership skills, critical thinking skills and most importantly confidence in myself. Even if I don't continue to start more businesses, the skills I have developed will never leave me. I wouldn't be as innovative, creative or hardworking if I never set myself on the entrepreneurial path.


What about Surrey’s Youth?
Over 1/3 of Surrey’s population is under 30 years old. That’s a huge number. But we don’t focus on supporting, encouraging or developing our youth. Throughout my high school experience and all the people I knew at the time, I never heard about any other students starting their own businesses or really taking on any initiative to challenge themselves. To be their best.

They say the people you spend the most time with determine who you become. Over the last few years I've focused on developing my entrepreneurial skills on my own and it was challenging. I started looking around in Surrey recently to see where I can find more youth with a similar mindset to mine and realized that Surrey isn't known for having a youth entrepreneurial community. This is a missed opportunity in our community. I want to change that.

My goal is to provide youth with entrepreneurial opportunities earlier on. To give them the opportunity to take on their own challenges which will help them be more innovative, independent, and hardworking. How am I going to do this? I'm currently working with SEEDS, the Self-Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Society, to accomplish this initiative at the high school level. The members of the SEEDS Youth Entrepreneurial Committee want to make a lasting change in the City of Surrey and see a whole new generation of entrepreneurs emerge. But it starts with the OPPORTUNITY. That’s what we will work to provide our youth. Opportunity.



 



3 comments:

  1. Fantastic idea. I've more recently begun looking at ideas of promoting entrepreneurial activity by starting an Entrepreneurs Society at KPU. But targeting our youth before they get into less productive activities, that's genius! Keep up the good work Stevie!

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    1. Have you heard about the Kwantlen Venture fund ? It should be beginning soon which would give Kwantlen students access to finance for their start up ideas which is exciting ! Glad to hear there are others equally interested in helping grow entrepreneurship. Are you already working on your own initiative Sohale ?

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  2. Wow, no, I had no idea. I noticed we lacked something akin to it, so I was gonna push for it soon. As for my own initiatives, I'm looking across the United States and much of the world to find the most effective initiatives and bring them to KPU, Surrey, and the surrounding communities. It's a little crazy when you understand that the city of Surrey has a population of 500,000, expected to surpass Vancouver in 20/30 years, and it's the hub of the south fraser region and yet it lacks much of the entrepreneurial and business muscle found in Vancouver. My goal with the KPU Entrepreneurs Society is to concentrate our entrepreneurial capital and generate some ideas on how we can further our agenda while providing the infrastructure for others to follow. The possibilities are endless and that's why we desperately need others, leaders, that think alike to join us and make a change, create a legacy.

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