Future Business Leaders compete at KPU Surrey

Wed, Jan 29, 2025
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Dozens of Surrey high school students brought their best business case forward at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) with the goal of becoming the next Future Business Leader.

The Melville School of Business at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) hosted its annual Future Business Leaders conference Jan. 15 at the university’s Surrey campus.

High school students and members of the YELL Canada program for young entrepreneurs participated in the three-hour competition.

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Business Leaders conference at KPU Surrey
High school students presenting at the Future Business Leaders event at KPU Surrey 

“The panel comes up with a problem and the students start to come up with solutions for it. They build a business idea around it, and they have to pitch their ideas,” says Brad Anderson, Melville School of Business instructor and chair of the Entrepreneurial Leadership program.  

Anderson says students come up with interesting pitches on existing products and demonstrate how they can make them more environmentally friendly.  

“They’ll look at products that have toxic or unsustainable types of materials and they’ll look at how to create products that already exist with new, more environmentally safe materials,” says Anderson. “These are young people and young people don’t know what’s impossible. And when you don’t know what can’t be done, that’s when you come up with the ideas that change the world.”  

Anderson explains students develop important skills by participating in the event.

“You learn how to work with new people and collaborate in a productive way, and you get comfortable pitching your ideas, which is a very powerful skill,” says Anderson.  

Students also appreciate learning to pitch and getting feedback on their business in real time, adds Anderson.

“Being able to sell their ideas and getting real feedback from industry professionals, the students really like that,” says Anderson.