For this week's column I am going to take a break from the typical energy topics and talk about a different type of "energy" that I experienced this past weekend: the energy of entrepreneurs. Startup Prince George is a local non-profit organisation that promotes entrepreneurial activity here in town through various events. This weekend they held their second annual Startup Weekend; an intense weekend workshop that both highlighted and developed the energy of some local budding entrepreneurs from across northern BC.
Startup Weekend is a global event. This past weekend's event in Prince George was just one of hundreds that occurred around the world. The idea with each of them is to bring together anyone who has an entrepreneurial interest for a weekend and hammer out a few structured business plans. Participants included those with nothing more than an entrepreneurial idea, along with individuals who have talents in the software development, design, business development and other disciplines. Over the weekend six multidisciplinary teams formed organically and developed a business plan around a single business idea put forward by one of the participants. The business plans included ideas surrounding health care, music, and a variety of other sectors.
I have previously lived in both Ottawa and London, UK. These two cities are known as hotbeds of entrepreneurial activity and while living there it was great to witness that in action. However, the world is shrinking and entrepreneurial activity is being increasingly pushed out of the major cities. This was very evident at Startup Weekend here in Prince George. Not only were there participants like myself from a wide variety of backgrounds and locales, but the facilitators had also arranged for a number of successful local entrepreneurs to coach us through the process. Aside from the specific coaching, it was reassuring to see some entrepreneur success stories that have happened right here in Prince George.
By the end of the week, each team had put together a business plan that was ready to present to a panel of local judges. While there could only be one winner,the judges provided excellent feedback on all business plans. I know a number of the teams intend to further develop their idea with the intention of commercialising it.
The worldwide emergence of entrepreneurs over the past 30 years has been one of the major forces driving the global economy. Prince George is competing in that global economy and if we are to be successful we need to harness the energy or entrepreneurs. Startup Prince George is doing a great job to facilitate this with events like Startup Weekend.
If any budding entrepreneurs are interested in meeting like minded people in town, Startup Prince George meets for informal networking once a month at The Copper Pig on George St. The next meeting is November 26th and everyone is welcome.
