UVic hosts young entrepreneurs - enterprise edge'99 conference

More than 400 young people, educators and aboriginal people from across Canada will be at the University of Victoria Thursday through Saturday for the second annual Enterprise Edge '99 conference on entrepreneurship, hosted by the UVic faculty of business and the Greater Vancouver Venture Centre.

Guest speakers include:

¥ Dr. Angus Reid, chairman and CEO of the Angus Reid Group, who will provide the special keynote address on Thursday at 9:15 a.m. in UVic's Cinecenta Theatre.

¥ Ian Waddell, Minister of Small, Business, Tourism and Culture at 10:45 a.m. Thursday.

¥ South African motivational speaker Bill Gibson, and

¥ Royal Bank aboriginal banking representative Matt Vickers.

A recent Angus Reid survey conducted for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business found that entrepreneurship is the leading career choice among Canada's young people. Yet only 1.6 per cent of Canadians call themselves "entrepreneurs."

One of the goals of the conference is to encourage participants to think of entrepreneurship as a profession rather than something that happens by chance. Workshops will emphasize self-sufficiency based on shared experience and a common body of knowledge on which to base successful ventures.

Participating in the conference will be a Nisga'a delegation of 12 young people and two elders.

Funding for the conference has been provided by the Royal Bank, Human Resources Development Canada, the B.C. Ministry of Small Business, Tourism and Culture, Industry Canada, and the Victoria business community.

The UVic faculty of business's entrepreneurship program is designed to help students gain knowledge to decrease the risks involved in a business venture. Students develop an entrepreneurship portfolio and use computer-aided decision models or "entrepreneurial technology." The basic premise is that entrepreneurs can be trained and are not simply born with the skills for success.

The Greater Vancouver Venture Centre is a community non-profit organization offering career counselling and training to young people and adults who face employment barriers.

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