14 June 2015

Today, Entreprendre Sherbrooke officially launched its activities to reposition Sherbrooke from an economic perspective through entrepreneurship, placing entrepreneurs at the heart of initiatives and projects.

Of the steering committee’s 17 members, 8 were introduced. They were Peter Cassar (SherWeb), Jean-René Bélanger (Imeka), Matthew Cassar (SherWeb), Anne Painchaud-Ouellet (Ressac), Éric Desmarais (Sporobole), Anik Beaudoin (Restaurant Auguste), Claude Belleau (Estrie Aide), and Josée Samson (SOS Odeurs). The steering committee has the task of forming four discussion tables. Each table is composed of 10 entrepreneurs from different fields, so 40 company managers will have taken part in this exercise.

Sherbrooke entrepreneurs are all encouraged to complete the online survey on the entreprendresherbrooke.ca site.

From left to right : Peter Cassar (SherWeb), Jean-René Bélanger (Imeka), Matthew Cassar (SherWeb), Anne Painchaud-Ouellet (Ressac), Éric Desmarais (Sporobole), Anik Beaudoin (Restaurant Auguste) and Claude Belleau (Estrie Aide).

This fall, Entreprendre Sherbrooke will develop a strategic plan and a 2016-2018 action plan, which will be a topic of discussion leading up to the major Entreprendre Sherbrooke forum in November 2015. A review of the actions undertaken will be conducted on the same date, every year, until 2018.

Entreprendre Sherbrooke was established in the wake of deliberations surrounding the creation of business accelerator/incubator Espace-INC and the specialization in Entrepreneurship at the Université de Sherbrooke, as well as the revision of Sherbrooke Innopole’s strategic plan. These discussions revealed the relevance of expanding the conversation to include the entire community in the development of a dynamic entrepreneurial community of and for entrepreneurs.

To date, several partners have contributed to the project’s financing: the City of Sherbrooke, the Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke Innopole, and Sherbrooke Ville en santé. The latter organization also represents a number of partners, among them the Commission scolaire de la Région-de-Sherbrooke, the Cégep de Sherbrooke, Bishop’s University, as well as the Sherbrooke and Fleurimont chambers of commerce.