Speed Mentoring Event: Fast-track Your Entrepreneurial Journey
On September 16, 2024, the Diversity Institute’s speed networking event, supported by the City of Toronto through the Business Incubation and Commercialisation (BIC) Grant Program , was a resounding success, drawing more than 100 entrepreneurs and 21 mentors from various sectors and backgrounds.
The focus of the event was to provide valuable connections to mentors from different backgrounds and sectors. Key partners, including Futurpreneur, FACE, CGLCC and WEOC met with entrepreneurs and promoted their programs.
Fayza Abdalaoui, founder of Next Level Impact Consulting and a prominent social entrepreneur, delivered an inspiring keynote. She drew on the hero’s journey concept, explaining how mentorship is a crucial stage in overcoming challenges and achieving success. Abdalaoui emphasized the need for businesses to be transformative, collective and inclusive, urging entrepreneurs to use their eight-minute interactions with mentors strategically. Her message highlighted the event’s core aim: to provide entrepreneurs with meaningful support and insights to advance their ventures.
Quotes and testimonies:
Over the six years of offering entrepreneurship programming, we have matched over 400 entrepreneurs to business mentors. We know how important mentorship is to entrepreneurs, so we were delighted to be able to facilitate invaluable support from over 20 incredible mentors to entrepreneurs from across the GTA in our Speed Mentorship event.
— Manal Khader, program manager, entrepreneurship WE-Hub and NEH.
Entrepreneurship is not just about building a business; it’s about embracing resilience, innovation, and a vision that goes beyond the challenges. As mentors, we guide not only by sharing knowledge but by inspiring the next generation of leaders to unlock their full potential and drive positive change.
— Shohreh Sabaghpour, CEO & founder, Lunesmart
We had a fantastic start to the week at the Speed Mentoring event, organized by the amazing team at Diversity Institute. It was an honour to connect with and support a group of driven entrepreneurs, each with their own inspiring journey. We’re excited about the future and look forward to more opportunities to continue providing financial education and spreading the word about the Black Entrepreneurship Program, ensuring it reaches even more underserved entrepreneurs.
— Priscilla Iyari, regional marketing and communications Officer, FACE Coalition
The event was amazing; having so many mentors under one roof was remarkable, and the experience and knowledge was overflowing! Happy to see so many entrepreneurs come out and gain some valuable insight.
— Andrew Ko, senior business development manager, Futurpreneur