Every May, entrepreneurs from around the world flock to the C2 Montréal Commerce + Creativity Conference. The event offers workshops, master classes and keynotes by industry icons and trailblazers — including, this year, filmmaker Spike Lee and musician and tech entrepreneur will.i.am.
Among the 2019 delegates will be 10 Concordia students.
The John Molson School of Business (JMSB) has partnered with C2 Montréal and URBANA Marketing to grant 10 women full and exclusive access to the forward-thinking business event, which runs at the C2 Montréal venue from May 22 to 24.
The selected student delegates will co-create digital content as they document their C2 experience.
The Women Entrepreneurship (WE) Initiative is the brainchild of Ana Marinescu (MBA 09), a JMSB lecturer and president of URBANA.
“The idea began in 2018 when the Government of Canada launched its Women Entrepreneurship Strategy. Its goal is to double the number of women entrepreneurs in Canada by 2025,” she says.
“I thought to myself, why don’t I apply the same design thinking approach I use to empower students and clients to co-create value and relevant solutions to help reach this objective?”
Marinescu held three design thinking workshops for aspiring women entrepreneurs, existing entrepreneurs, support organizations and business leaders.
Her JMSB colleague Ingrid Chadwick, associate professor of management and director of the National Bank Initiative in Entrepreneurship and Family Business, observed the workshops and is using the findings to further her research on women in leadership.
Marinescu calls this Phase 1 of the WE Initiative.
Behind the scenes of C2 Montréal
The second phase is sending the 10 female students to C2.
The idea came from a conversation Marinescu had when she was presenting the WE Initiative to longtime friend and fellow Concordia alumna Caroline Lavergne (MBA 09), former editor-in-chief at C2.
She referred Marinescu to Julia Cyboran (BA 03), VP Marketing & Audience at C2, and another proud Concordia grad. They connected instantly over the same shared drive to help women achieve their full potential.
“We want them to embark on a shared mission to create value and viability among Canadian women entrepreneurs,” Marinescu says.
“These students will benefit from behind-the-scenes and personalized experiences during C2, team building and coaching provided by URBANA, access to a network of women leaders and entrepreneurs and the opportunity to collaborate with a production crew to document the experience.”
Interested students were asked to complete a questionnaire, submit their resumé and produce a short video that explains why they wanted to participate in the initiative.
The selected women come from Concordia’s four academic faculties. Follow them on social media to get the inside scoop of C2 Montréal.