A taste for entrepreneurship

Studies have repeatedly revealed that entrepreneurship initiatives make all the difference to the learning progress and self-confidence of struggling students, ultimately increasing their will to persevere. Indeed, entrepreneurs themselves are a fine example of perseverance. Time and time again, we hear stories about people who have experienced setbacks, even failures, in their entrepreneurial career, and all attest to the fact that these difficulties made them stronger and drove them to persevere.

This summer, the Jeune chambre de commerce de Montréal (JCCM) deployed a mobilizing project to encourage boldness, creativity, a sense of responsibility and initiative among young people who are at risk of dropping out of school or of experiencing problems in persevering. How? By inspiring them to start a business!

Help discover and inspire

In close collaboration with the Table des CJE de l’Île-de-Montréal, the JCCM inaugurated the J’entreprends mon été! camp, which aimed to arouse an interest in entrepreneurship among 20 or so young people aged between 14 and 16. The initiative was a resounding success.

Through such activities as meetings with entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial skills development, visits to businesses (Ellicom, Esplanade, Behaviour, Zafè, maclinique.com) and, in particular, a brainstorming exercise for a business project, the youngsters were able to learn about the reality of entrepreneurship and look to the future from a variety of perspectives.

Never too young to start a business

Accompanied by youth entrepreneurship outreach workers from the Carrefours jeunesse-emploi organization, the young people took part in workshops on entrepreneurship concepts and were given the tools needed to design and develop their business project.

Not only did they present their project before a jury during a festive event to mark the end of the camp, but many also took steps, alongside their schooling, to fine-tune their project over the coming months.

Winner of the first camp: a project providing better access to urban gardening– a little extra “green” at our fingertips!

The future entrepreneurs who developed this concept will benefit from a consultation session with the La Tank non-profit organization to move the project toward its final steps of completion.

Which only goes to show that young people can combine entrepreneurial spirit and environmental sensitivity all at once!

The entrepreneurial projects developed during the first ever J’entreprends mon été! camp may not all make it to market, but they will certainly help these budding entrepreneurs to fully invest in their own personal projects, explore new opportunities, and to persevere and believe in their potential.