On October 22, 2024, Sheridan’s entrepreneurship hub, EDGE, launched its signature student program, Thrive. The program is designed to help students develop their business ideas and launch successful ventures. Thrive offers a structured, five-level approach that includes fostering an entrepreneurial mindset, learning career skills, building ideas, writing business plans, and launching a venture. Each stage is tailored to meet students at their current level and address their unique needs.
At its core, Thrive features a mentorship model with one-on-one sessions complemented by workshops and networking opportunities. “Providing Sheridan students with engaging opportunities to try their hand at entrepreneurship is central to our work. It’s inspiring to see students bring their ideas to life,” said Noreen Javed, Interim Director, EDGE. Programs like Thrive empower students to take an active role in solving pressing challenges in their community.
EDGE offered an inaugural Bootcamp to give students a firsthand experience of what the program offers. 130 students registered for this one-day intensive training, highlighting a strong interest in innovation and entrepreneurship. The Bootcamp focused on foundational entrepreneurship concepts like identifying problems worth solving, creating a business model canvas, conducting a feasibility study and the purpose of an MVP and how to use it to test their ideas in the market—the day concluded with participants sketching out initial MVP concepts and an invitation to apply for the seven-week Thrive program.
Out of 28 applications, ten ventures were selected to participate. These students received access to self-paced courses on Slate, covering entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, changemaking, ideation, and innovation, completing Levels 1 and 2 of the program. Throughout the seven weeks, they received personalized support through weekly one-on-one sessions with program mentor Faria Jafri, a social entrepreneur and mentor at Founders Fund and ICUBE UTM. Participants also worked with faculty and industry advisors—experts in business development, financial modeling and planning, investment readiness and fundraising, public relations, branding and marketing, digital marketing, sales, and entrepreneurship. Upon completion, participants earned a certificate and CCR credit.
