November 25, 2013 – Some 120 guests– entrepreneurs of all kinds, students, businesspeople, professors, Lac-Mégantic entrepreneurs and various experts– turned out for the cocktail party to launch the Rémi Marcoux Entrepreneurial Track on November 15. The successful ceremony included a variety of activities, including the unveiling of a collective mural and the making of a film bringing together students and entrepreneurs from Lac-Mégantic.

This unique approach to fostering entrepreneurship was made possible by a $2.5 million donation to Campus Montréal early in the year by entrepreneur Rémi Marcoux and TC Transcontinental, the company he founded. Campus Montréal, of course, is the joint fundraising campaign being conducted by HEC Montréal, Polytechnique Montréal and the Université de Montréal.

Flanked by his children and grandchildren, Mr. Marcoux emphasized the fact that “by 2020, many companies will not be able to find someone to take them over. This is a disaster. If we can help create a future generation of entrepreneurs, by giving students the training and experience they need, we will all come out ahead.”

About ten students will form the first cohort in the Entrepreneurial Track, starting in January.

Reveal your inner entrepreneur!

After the official launch, some seventy students took part in a useful and educational experience appealing to their entrepreneurial spirit, on the theme of finding one’s “inner entrepreneur.” Guided by ten or so experts, they formed teams to contribute their talents and ideas to helping six entrepreneurs and businesspeople who had been affected by the Lac-Mégantic catastrophe. Short television features will be produced based on the exercise, and integrated into a series of five shows on local entrepreneurs and businesspeople.

Also on the theme of entrepreneurship, a mural designed by Nathalie Hazan, founder and artistic director of Raison d’art, representing the culmination of a collective creative process, was unveiled. The mural, which will now be displayed at the School, consists of 540 tiles coloured and laid one by one by students, professors, School staff, members of the Marcoux family, partners of the Entrepreneurial Track and representatives of the National Bank │HEC Montréal Entrepreneurship Institute and of Campus Montréal. Daring, creativity, uncertainty, and challenges are some of the keywords highlighted in this work of art.