8:00 a.m.: Registration

9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.: Plenary Session

Speaker: Warren Roy (CEO and Founder of Global Relay)

• High level overview of entrepreneurship
• Your business plan (essentials components, what makes a good business plan great, common errors)
• How to put business plan into action
• The importance of having a current and evolving the business plan through each business
• Outcome:
  • Provide attendees with an understanding of business plan components
  • Help attendees understand the importance of a current business plan

10:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.: Morning Coffee Break

 

10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.: Break Out Sessions

Breakout Session #1 (targets small businesses at its early stage) - Building Brand and Getting Recognized

Speaker: David Childs (Director, Living Blueprint)

• Different tools used to get your brand out there and to build a customer base (social media, traditional, online advertising, word of mouth, etc.)
• Retain your customers (the importance of customer service and keeping customers engaged)
• How to make your brand stand out in a congested environment
• Marketing metrics 
• Outcome: Using different tools to build recognition, and retaining and attracting customers.

Breakout Session #2 (targets businesses seeking financing) - Fundraise! Presented by ACG Vancouver

Moderator: Jon Sharun (Managing Director, Venexo Corporation)

Speakers: Irfhan Rajani (CEO, Coleco Inc.), Mark Gray (Regional Director, Maple Trade Finance Inc), Robert Napoli  and (Vice President, First West Capital).

• Securing funding (banking relationship, line of credit, collateral considerations)
• Common ways to raise capital
• Available government grants
• Panel discussion: bank vs. entrepreneurship ways of raising capital 
• Outcome: Understanding different ways of raising finances.

Breakout Session #3 (targets social entrepreneurs) - Social Entrepreneurship

Moderator: Elizabeth Lougheed Green (Vancity Manager, Community Investments)

Speakers: Suzanne Siemens (Co-Founder, Lunapad International), Brian Postlewait (CEO, Mission Possible), Bob Prenovost (Principal, Propellor Social Enterprise Advisors)

10 Ingredients for a social enterprise start-up 

Starting a social enterprise is not easy. In general, start-ups fail more than 90% of the time. Start-ups that donate services, profits, or a portion of their revenue or that seek to serve an under-served market are even more challenging because of the additional requirement of social contribution. Hear from panelists as they talk about their experience, business models, lessons learned and pitfalls of social enterprise start-ups.

• Start-ups that donate services, profits or a portion of their revenue or that seek to serve an under-served market are more challenging
• Provide experience, lessons learned and pitfalls
• Different social enterprise business models - the motivation of choosing a specific structure and the benefits of each
• Outcome: Providing an understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced by social entrepreneurs and lessons learned.

12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.: Lunch and networking

 

1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.: Break Out Sessions

Breakout Session #1 (targets small businesses at inception) - Helping Hands

Speaker: April Bellia (Founder & CEO, Granola Girl Enterprises Inc.) 

• Choosing the right people
• Staff retention
• Incenting people to a start-up
• Outcome: Components of a successful team - how to build, retain and terminate.

Breakout Session #2 (targets small businesses at inception) - Legal

Speakers: Elaine Tham (Associate, Davis LLP) and Charmane Sing (Associate, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP)

• Documents required when starting a company
• Common legal issues and corporate issues
• Contract drafting
• Trademark protection and intellectual property
• Common legal issues 
• Outcome: Understanding of common legal issues and how to prevent encountering these issues.

Breakout Session #3 (targets small businesses seeking growth) - Making a Greater Leap

Speaker: Siku Adam (Partner, SECOR KPMG) 

• Customer development for starting company - developing a business with customer's need in mind from day one
• How to evaluate success (performance measurement and benchmarking)
• Cash flow planning for growth
• When to start a new store or expand the business
• Franchising
• Outcome: When to expand your business and different ways of expanding.

2:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.: Afternoon Coffee Break

3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.: Keynote Speaker

Peter Legge - President & CEO, Canada Wide Media & BC Business Magazine 

• Real case: someone who had struggled and succeeded
• A business that started from small and has grown
• Inspire
• Outcome: Get inspired, put the plan in action! 

4:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.: Closing/Wrap-up

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