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What is the Ignition Program:
The Ignition Program offers post-secondary students a 10-week program that gives access to training, mentorship, resources, ecosystem connections; and honorariums to support personal and business development. Students will be awarded $10 for each session they engage with!
What’s in this session:
Godswisdom came to Canada from Nigeria with no network, no money and no roadmap. Within two years he had built one of the most recognized entrepreneurship programs in North America from scratch, no budget, no partners, no inherited relationships and no playbook. The Hult Prize Foundation named it the North America Regional Program of the Year for 2026. Godswisdom is the only Campus Director from a Canadian university to receive that recognition this year.
This session is about how he did it. Not the highlight reel. The real version, the cold calls that went unanswered, the meetings where he sat in waiting rooms without appointments, the moments he almost stopped. And the mindset that kept him going through all of it.
Godswisdom is a Master of Engineering graduate in Electrical and Computer Engineering. he has managed over $9 million in institutional proposals with a 75% win rate. He has engaged the Mayor of a city, built six institutional partnerships from cold outreach, coached twelve founding teams to a national championship and been invited to the Hult Prize Global Finals in London, England. And he did all of that while completing his graduate degree simultaneously, as a newcomer to Canada, building everything from nothing.
This session is about what that journey actually taught him about leadership, resilience and what it means to build something that matters.
What students will get from the session:
A raw, honest, and practical framework for the part of entrepreneurship nobody talks about, the messy middle. Students will walk away knowing how to keep moving when nothing is working, how to lead themselves before they lead anyone else, how to turn rejection into momentum, and how to build something real with whatever they have right now. Not someday. Now.
Why students should attend:
Because most entrepreneurship content is written for people who already have resources, connections, and safety nets. This session is for everyone else. If you are a student who has ever looked at what you are trying to build and wondered if you have what it takes, this session was built for you.
Speaker's Bio:
Godswisdom Ogbonna is an electrical engineer, entrepreneur, and innovation ecosystem builder who came to Canada from Nigeria with no network, no resources, and no roadmap, and built a nationally recognized career from nothing
As the inaugural Campus Director for the Hult Prize Foundation at the University of Windsor, Godswisdom built one of the most successful entrepreneurship programmes in North America from scratch, securing over $13,000 in sponsorships, coaching 12 founding teams, and sending two teams to the national championship. The Hult Prize Foundation named his programme the North America Regional Programme of the Year for 2026, the highest recognition given to a single Campus Director across the entire continent. He is the only Campus Director from a Canadian university to receive that honour this year.
Godswisdom holds a Master of Engineering in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Windsor and currently works in business development and strategic partnerships in Toronto. He is also a consultant, and a speaker passionate about entrepreneurship, resilience, and what it really takes to build something from nothing.
His session, The Startup Leadership Mindset, draws from his lived experience as a newcomer entrepreneur who built something nationally recognized without a blueprint, and is designed to give aspiring entrepreneurs the honest, practical tools they need to keep going when the path gets hard.
Zoom link will be provided after registration to the Ignition Program
