Dawson College was named the winner of the Canadian Mentorship Challenge due to the generosity of many speakers and mentors who donated their time to mentor our students during Entrepreneurship Week.

Check out Start Up Canada’s news release announcing the win.

From the opening presentation by Luca Lazylegs Patuelli, which saw over 400 students in attendance, it was obvious organizers had set their sights higher this year.

Budding entrepreneurs had a wealth of opportunities to learn something to help them launch their ideas and future ventures. Over the course of four days, the much anticipated event saw over 1,700 participants take part in 21 different activities.

EWeek 2013 at Dawson College: Bigger and better!

Anyone who attended a presentation, watched an interview, took part in a competition, talked to an entrepreneur in a speed-dating format was left wondering how next year’s edition could be any better. But the organizers of EWeek will certainly succeed.

During the period between November 18 and 21, it is estimated that over 15 million young people participated worldwide in tens of thousands of events and competitions for Global Entrepreneurship Week.

In Montreal, Dawson College’s EWeek provided a diverse and strong line-up of mentors, networking events, contests and activities for Montrealers and Dawson College students alike.

The activities kicked off with Luca Lazylegz Patuelli with an incredible show and presentation title “No Excuses, No Limits”, a truly inspiring talk that attracted over 400 students in the Atrium. Robert Soroka, Dawson Business Administration teacher, was wildly entertaining when he conducted an interview with Just for Laughs’ Andy Nulman and his son Hayes. Hayes has followed his own dream of entrepreneurship and launched his own furniture design venture.

Themes such as success, failure, perseverance and surrounding yourself with good people and talent were recurring.

A panel of judges, comprised of La Fondation de l’entrepreneurship’s Louis Larochelle, CJAD host Josh Miller, the Director General of the CLD Les 3 Monts, Guy Bazinet, eBay Fashionpreneur, Tina Kastana and Dawson College and Concordia University business professors, provided valuable advice and awarded the winning pitch of the Dawson’s Den competition to Revolutionary Longboards’s Mitch Wojcik and Zach Clayton.

Second and third place winners were Nicholas Pasquale with his Clean Seat product and Anne Tchiniaev of Leucan Thrift Shop. For young entrepreneurs who are still aspiring to launch their own business, the Speed Dating event with one-on-one time with 17 entrepreneur-mentors and the Meetup of all Meetups events were the perfect setting to help connect successful executives, entrepreneurs, students and mentors.

Natalie Rivière of Virtual Resources was named Eweek 2013 Mentor Rock Star: Natalie gave many hours of her time to mentor budding entrepreneurs as well as a high school intern from Lindsey Place during Global Entrepreneurship Week.

DAWSON EWEEK FACTS:

–    4 days
–    1700+ participants
–    47 speakers and mentors
–    21 events
–    16 entrepreneurship support organizations
–    30+ student volunteers
–    7 Major partners
–    3 Sponsors
–    18 In kind sponsorships
–    One of the top four GEW Canada Partners
–    One of the top 10 Tweeter for GEW Canada
–    Over 30 hours of video footage and 10 00 pictures taken
–    One Mentor Rock Star

EWeek organizers especially want to thank their 10 community partners:

• CLD Les 3 Monts
• RESO Sud-Ouest
• Société de développement économique Ville-Marie
• CDEC Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
• Développement économique St-Laurent
• Développement économique West Island-CLD
• CDEC Ahuntsic-Cartierville
• Fuller Landau
• Yes Montreal
• and the CEDEC

Also of note, the presence at EWeek of La Fondation Canadienne des Jeunes Entrepreneurs, Google Montreal , YES Montreal, John Molson School of Business, Execution Labs, Elektrek Clothing, Mackage, Askmen.com, f & co., Girl Geeks, Biztree, Living Lab Montréal, Secret Agent Research, Twist Image, ProMontreal Entrepreneurs, DavinaplusDaniel, Glossbar, Artistri Sud, SuWu Neighbourhood Bar, Saintwoods, Apt. 200, Tuango.ca, A Painted Bouquet, McGill University, Just for Laughs, Hayes Nulman Designs, Ill-Abilities, Seeding Factory, Rivière Resources, Mirror Read, Table des CJE de l’Île-de-Montréal, Girls Action Foundation, Living Labs, Fundica, AJOI, Notman House, CJE Centre-ville, among others.

Below, Luca “Lazylegz” Patuelli