Entrepreneur, now there’s a word that gets kicked around a lot. It conjures up images of daring people making bold moves. Moves that can make them millions. Zuckerberg, Musk, and more. I spent five years in the post-secondary world down the road at Sheridan College and while I was there, I ended up chairing the board of something called Haltech, headquartered on North Service Road in Burlington. It is one of about fourteen RICs — Regional Innovation Centres —- set up by the former Liberal government in Ontario. Before that, I actually worked with the minister in charge of research and innovation for a time, the Honourable Glen Murray. There was good and bad in what I learned while on those files.
Entrepreneurs are a special breed. At most, maybe 2% of us actually have what it takes to be one. You have to love your project, you have to love failing, but fast, you have to take on a ton of responsibility, and in the end, it may all be for naught.
The image is of twenty-somethings, mostly male, I’m sad to say, jumping off idea-cliffs into the churning sea of venture capital.
The reality is that most of these folks are in their forties and older and have already accumulated real work and life experience. Haltech is a small RIC but it does good work helping people with their dreams. It’s led by their Executive Director Shann McGrail. Let’s meet her on this episode of Imagine Burlington and find out what Haltech can do for the region’s entrepreneurs.
