When Marc Lafleur was looking for his life’s passion, he turned to sports — football. From the hallowed halls of Holy Trinity Catholic High School to the crowded campuses at the University of Waterloo (UW), he applied himself to competition and found purpose.

“That was the motivation and the purpose I needed to actually apply myself and turn everything around really in high school,” he told CTV. “When I found football, it was the first time I actually found something that I deeply cared about, and ironically in Canada, if you don't play football in university, you're really kind of screwed. There are not that many other leagues to play in at a really competitive level.”

That fire motivated him to pursue business ventures while at UW. Eventually, the Black entrepreneur hit gold on his third attempt with truLocal — an online meat subscription service that he sold for $16.7 million in 2020.

Lafleur is now giving back to the youth in his hometown. He will speak in March at an event hosted by the Cornwall Business Enterprise Centre (CBEC); more than 600 youth are expected to attend from school districts in the region, according to CTV.

“For me, I didn't even realize that entrepreneurship was an option until I got into university, and I was able to accomplish a lot by the age of 30,” Lafleur added. “I always wonder what I could have done if I even knew that entrepreneurship was an option in high school.”

Organizers of the event say the goal is to light a fire in young people aged 15-29 to encourage them to become their own bosses and tailor their education paths toward entrepreneurship. The purpose is also to encourage kids to serve their towns and communities with those skills.

“It's all those small business owners that really create a vibe in the community and have that culture and that experience that attracts other people to the area,” Shauna Biggs, supervisor and business consultant with CEBC, told CTV.

“Marc is very inspiring and he's very motivating, but he is also really realistic. You don't have to be a student, although the event is geared towards 15-29 because it is the formal launch of our Summer Company program, which we offer here in the summer months for the CBEC,” she added.

Lafleur recently released a book, “True Founder”, which details his experience growing up and starting his first business at university. As a Black kid growing up in rural eastern Ontario, he also touched on his experience as one of the only ones.

“For the first year of high school, I was the only Black kid in the school, and then by the time I graduated, I think there were four or five of us,” he told CTV.

“We're used to being told no, whether it's blatantly obvious or it’s subtle. If you're a minority, you're probably being told no more often than you're being told yes and when it comes to business, having that mentality of assuming you're going to get a no is valuable because then you kind of just keep coming back and keep coming back and keep coming back.

“It's almost like some of the challenges that minorities are facing are setting them up for success in business and entrepreneurship, so I love to talk about that,” he added. “When you look at any minorities, I think it's a shame there aren't more in business, especially considering, I think, that it's not just a place that we belong; it's a place that's made for us.”

The CBEC is hosting the event March 8 at the Aultsville Theatre at St. Lawrence College, with limited seats still available. You can register here.