From www.lambtonshield.com The Lambton Shield
By JD Booth
In an ongoing commitment to foster the entrepreneurial spirit of students, faculty and staff, Lambton College has launched an initiative designed to inspire entrepreneurship activities on campus and in the community.
Taking its cue from global business incubators, Lambton College’s “The Cube” was developed as an on-campus entrepreneurial hub in partnership with Enactus Lambton, which aims to help students achieve their goals of becoming entrepreneurs or corporate innovators.
With funding from the Government of Ontario’s On-Campus Entrepreneurship Activities (OCEA) program, The Cube will also give local entrepreneurs the opportunity to build and expand their personal network through things like mentorship collaborations, community partnerships and access to global resources. Program administrators say the end goal is to develop a pipeline of people who are on course to become the region’s next generation of entrepreneurs.
“Fostering the entrepreneurial spirit among students is a key component of Ontario’s Youth Jobs Strategy, through programs that help transfer their ideas and skills to the marketplace while creating rewarding careers,” says Reza Moridi, Ontario’s Minister of Research and Innovation and Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities. “By partnering with colleges and universities to support entrepreneurship, we are ensuring our province’s business leaders of tomorrow are getting the support they need to succeed today.”
Funding in the amount of $200,000 from the OCEA program will help The Cube to establish entrepreneurship activities at the college over the next two years. The new hub has also received an additional $286,000 in the form of cash and in-kind contributions on behalf of the college and other regional partners. The program is being administered by Ontario Centres of Excellence.
“Ontario Centres of Excellence is pleased to be able to deliver this project as a trusted partner of the Government of Ontario. I look forward to putting our years of experience in connecting academia and industry, and our on-going support of young entrepreneurs to good use in making this initiative a tremendous success,” says Dr. Tom Corr, President and CEO, Ontario Centres of Excellence.
The program’s official kickoff event, fittingly dubbed Thrills of Entrepreneurship, will be held on Thursday, October 2 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the college’s cafeteria. The event is open to anyone from the community with an interest in entrepreneurship.
Other future activities on the roster include entrepreneurship boot camps, pitch competitions, a guest speaker series, networking events and external resource referrals.
“Lambton College has always offered a diverse range of program delivery and experiential learning options in the area of entrepreneurship,” says Judith Morris, President & CEO, Lambton College. “The addition of this entrepreneurial hub will allow us to further arm our students with the skills needed to jumpstart the growth of businesses in Sarnia-Lambton as well as offer resources and support to other community innovators.”
Fostering entrepreneurship opportunities on campus was deemed one of the highlights of the college’s recently released Strategic Mandate Agreement. The launch of The Cube on campus falls directly in line with Lambton College’s focus on ensuring that students receive the entrepreneurial skills needed to succeed in a global market and their commitment to maintaining mutually beneficial partnerships with local businesses and industry.
For more information about The Cube and how you can get involved, please contact Anja Christensen, Entrepreneurship Officer, Lambton College at 519-542-7751 ext 3007 or anja.christensen@lambtoncollege.ca.
For event updates, connect with The Cube on social media by Liking their Facebook page at facebook.com/TheCubeLC or following them on Twitter@TheCubeLC.
Working through the Ontario Network of Entrepreneurs, the OCEA program is an initiative of the Government of Ontario under the Youth Jobs Strategy and is being managed by Ontario Centres of Excellence.