This idea originated from my experience as the co-founder and executive of a campus group. As a group in its inaugural year, it was extremely difficult to get funding for events. As most groups are doing, we tried to go to restaurants for sponsorship. However, because we were newly founded and did not have a lot of members, restaurants refused to give us any funding. So I thought, would it be better if groups can group together and have a bigger bargaining power when negotiating? Magnet-o is basically a platform where local merchants can post promotion information and where students can network with other fellow students. We hope to transform the way groups get funding, so they can concentrate on planing even better events rather than spending time looking for sponsors.

Global CIRCLE (Communities that inspire, respect, create, live and empower) is a social business committed to serving youth and adults in pursuing adventure, community engagement and social justice, locally and globally, through travel experiences. We intend to sell travel packages to adults. Revenue made from the cost of the trips will go towards funding skill building trips for youth. Our mission is to provide a unique cross-cultural experience for youth living in the Greater Toronto Area who face intersecting oppressions. The trip for youth will consist of: community building, education and empowerment. We seek to foster a sense of local and global responsibility for youth and adults around the world through equitable and holistic education.   We aim to facilitate the critical engagement of all members by offering traveling experiences that respect and learn from glo(cal) (global and local) communities. Our mission is to highlight the skills and strengths of communities through glo(cal) activism and the celebration of social agents of change.   Global CIRCLE will be officially leading its first trip to Kenya in July 2012. The 14-day trip will involve experiencing the majestic wildlife, visiting local schools, white water rafting and sight seeing. Initially our trips will be run out of the Greater Toronto Area, however, can be expanded to other parts of Canada and eventually move to other parts of the world.

The arts and culture sector is facing a world of ever-decreasing funding and to ensure sustainability, organizations need to bring in new and younger audiences that will help grow ticket revenues. Over 750 thousand 18 to 40 year olds in the GTA attend at least one performing arts event per year. However, their engagement with the arts is concentrated around events that provide broader social experiences, such as festivals, and many of them are not year-round consumers of arts and culture. sceneopolis changes this. It is a subscription service that revolutionizes how young people in Toronto engage with the arts. It curates the local arts scene and creates social experience around it, all at a discount. Features of sceneopolis include: - Low annual up-front subscription fee; - Incorporates arts and culture scene into a night out, creating social experiences around it year-round; - Helps navigate the complex arts and culture scene by featuring 4 to 5 events per week across various disciplines, with interest and entertainment value to 18 to 40 year olds in mind; - Leverages group buying power to provide up to 40% discounts for tickets to featured events as well as complementary services such as restaurants and lounges; - Offers opportunity for subscribers to socialize and network with others in their peer group online and offline by attending exclusive sceneopolis pre- and post-show parties. sceneopolis makes engaging with the arts more than just "sitting down for a show". We project that in Toronto alone, we can add $10 million of revenue per year to the city's arts and culture organizations, the vast majority of which are non-profit institutions. In addition to this social benefit, we plan to decidate 5-10% of our profits toward youth outreach programs that bring high school students from less priveleged areas into the city and enable them to experience the arts scene at an early age. We are launching October 1st!