Recently, Spark Centre was a part of three momentous events celebrating entrepreneurship and innovation in Durham Region and Northumberland County.
We were very proud and honoured to be the Premium sponsor for Metroland’s Breakfast Seminar with Arlene Dickinson. The event took place at Landmark Cinema in Whitby on June 11th and featured Arlene speaking about her journey to success. She shared some very personal stories about how she became an entrepreneur, author and Dragon’s Den star. Local Durham Region entrepreneurs and success stories, Jason Atkins from 360 Incentives and Jodi Glover from Real Tech Inc. were also on hand to speak on their experiences and offered their advice during a Q&A session. Dennis Croft, Executive Director of Spark Centre was the MC of the event and spoke about the impact the morning had on the sold-out crowd; “Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart and we were treated to how to accept and conquer adversity. Arlene, Jason and Jodie inspired us to reach beyond our paradigms. I was humbled to be master of ceremonies in such company.”
The second June event took place in Oshawa at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT). The Innovation Conference titled “Rethinking Management 2020” empowered its attendees to keep up with changing technologies in the workforce and encouraged all to seize new opportunities to advance their business and reinvent their management style. Dennis Croft was also the MC at the event, joining an impressive group of speakers and industry experts. “It was an honour to be the Master of Ceremonies for UOIT Innovation Day.” Dennis says “UOIT’s drive to foster innovation in Durham Region shone bright on June 24th. We saw the best and brightest of management gather and discuss the future of innovation. Just awesome!”
Spark Centre was once again very eager to partner with Northumberland CFDC for their N100 Startup Competition. Startups who apply for N100 compete for $100,000 in investment to support key milestones in the development of their company. Spark Centre ran a Pitch School for the Top 10 businesses which consisted of a one day boot camp followed by one on one sessions with entrepreneurs to finalize their pitches for the N100 Pitch Night. Once the N100 Power Panel chose their Top 3 finalists, we held a Mock Boardroom Investment Presentation. The finalists were able to execute a 15 minute boardroom presentation followed by a 15 minute Q&A with experts, entrepreneurs and investors from Spark Centre’s network. Braden Kemp, Manager, Business Acceleration Services at Spark Centre says, “It was fantastic to be a part of the N100 competition again this year, and to work with such a talented and innovative group of entrepreneurs. N100 is a great example of the incredible technology ecosystem that is growing right here in our own backyard and we can’t wait to see who comes out on top later this summer.”
What an exciting time for Durham Region and Northumberland County! Spark Centre is continuously proud of the work being done to create a thriving entrepreneurial community. We will always continue to strive to build on a community that embraces innovation and technology.
