About this Event
Ignite the Entrepreneur Within is an interactive four-week series for people who are curious about entrepreneurship
Ignite the Entrepreneur Within is an interactive four-week series for people who are curious about entrepreneurship and want to explore whether starting a business is the right path for them. Participants hear honest stories from local entrepreneurs, assess their personal readiness, develop and test a business idea, receive focused guidance from business professionals, and build a clear business profile they can confidently communicate in conversation, networking, email, funding inquiries, and information requests.
Week 1 (Novmeber 5, 2026, 5-7pm)- This opening session offers an honest, balanced view of entrepreneurship. Guest entrepreneurs share the good, the bad, and the unexpected: lifestyle demands, mental health and work-life balance, financial realities, relationships, time management, networking, resilience, success, and lessons learned from failure.
Week 2 (November 12, 2026, 5-7pm)- Participants begin turning an idea into a potential business concept. The session focuses on a specific customer, the problem they experience, current alternatives, the proposed solution, and the value or benefit the idea could create. Participants use elements of the Business Model Canvas and Lean Canvas without being expected to complete a full business plan in one session.
Week 3 (November 19, 2026, 5-7pm )- Week 3 uses a structured roundtable format rather than a lecture. Participants rotate through five areas of business expertise: Accounting and Financing; Marketing and Branding; Sales and Pricing; HR and Corporate Structure; and Community Business Supports. At each table, participants apply practical guidance to their own concept, identify risks and assumptions, and record decisions and next steps that will strengthen the business bio and profile they develop in Week 4.
Week 4 (November 26, 2026, 5-7pm)-This final session helps participants turn their developing concept into a clear business identity and introduction. Using strategies borrowed from effective business pitches, participants create a short business profile, draft practical mission and vision statements, and build an adaptable introduction they can use when speaking with a customer, funder, lender, partner, mentor, or community contact. They practise the message aloud, convert it into a professional written version, and receive supportive feedback focused on clarity, authenticity, customer value, and next steps.
To get full value of the series, we recommend attending all four sessions. When you sign up for this event, you are registering for all four of the dates listed above.
A workbook will be provided. Please bring it to each session.
Please email [email protected] if you have any questions!
Event venue & nearby stays
Small Business Centre, 284b Wallbridge Loyalist Road, Belleville, Canada
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