JA Canada Wraps Up Successful Next Generation Leaders Forum

 

September 1, 2017

JA Canada Wraps Up Successful Next Generation Leaders Forum

The Next Generation Leaders Forum 2017 wrapped up late last week in London, Ontario, Canada. Hosted by JA Canada and JA London & District (in Ontario), student delegates from across Canada and around the world met on the campus of Fanshawe College, where they participated in hands-on workshops, learned from industry experts, collaborated as teams to find an innovation solution to a common problem, and even watched a personalized video from the prime minister.

The conference drew attendees from within Ontario:

from across Canada:

and from around the world:

After the Ignite Speaker Series—a day packed with talks by inspiring entrepreneurs and leaders, including our own CEO, Asheesh Advani—participants then formed into teams to address the challenge question: "You're a start-up company. Create a plan for your company to introduce a disruptive innovation that will change your industry forever." From there, teams pitched their concepts (for industries as wide ranging as transportation, energy, retail commerce, communications, and food, and then competed for top honors) to a panel of five judges.

  • Terry Zavitz (president of Zavitz Insurance Inc.; also JA’s 2014 laureate inducted into the London and District Business Hall of Fame)
  • Sheldon Aaron (owner of several businesses, including Lamplighter, Best Western Plus, and Viscount; also JA’s 2009 Laureate inducted into the London & District Business Hall of Fame)
  • Gord Delamont (founder & creative director at TreeTown Media Group & London Inc. Magazine)
  • Stephen Couchman (senior advisor of Philanthropic Services)
  • Lesley Quesnelle (professor of finance at the Lawrence Kinlin School of Business)

Photo by Nataleigh Ballantyne.

Rio, the winning team, created the Riospect app, which enables consumers to have a tour guide on their phones, so that they can see what an area looked like in the past. "Your pace, your place, your time" is the app's tagline.

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