The RBC–Schulich Enterprise Forum, hosted by the Centre for Global Enterprise (CGE) at the Schulich School of Business, took place Nov. 21 in Toronto.
Participants network at the event
The event’s theme was Success Without Borders: Smart Strategies for Taking on the World and it attracted more than 50 companies and organizations. The forum was designed to provide owners and entrepreneurs of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) an opportunity to learn how to navigate the SME support ecosystem more effectively, discover some hidden resources that can help them access international markets and network with those organizations.
A panel of leaders addressed three major challenges for SMEs. Karima-Catherine Goundiam, managing director of Red Dot Digital Inc., showed how to expand beyond the United States in her talk “The U.S. isn’t the Only Market Anymore”; Ali Fard, CEO of HEXA, explored how an SME can take on the multinationals in “Don’t be Afraid of Giants; How Canadian Companies Can Win Over Giant Companies”; and Peter Hawkins, managing director of MELLOHAWK Logistics, addressed one of the major failings of Canadian SMEs – lack of followup – in his presentation “Bad Boyfriend Syndrome – Why Some Canadian Companies Fail Abroad.”
For further information about the RBC-Schulich Enterprise Forum series or any of CGE’s activities, contact the Centre for Global Enterprise at cge@schulich.yorku.ca.