A New Sound in The Forest City:

One of London’s newest entrepreneurs shares his journey and reason for giving back

LONDON, ON. May 15, 2013. Like most entrepreneurs, Andrew Stephenson saw an opportunity in London’s market so he set out to do what he loves and provide a service that best captures and showcases his clients – through videos. It took months of planning with help and guidance from the Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF) as well as The Business Help Centre, a Community Futures Development Corporation (CFDC), after finishing the Business Administration - Marketing program at Fanshawe College.

On December 20, 2012 Stephenson received funding from the CYBF and Business Development Corporation (BDC) allowing him to launch AV Marketing Inc on January 1, 2013. “I’d been doing audio production for years and wanted to do work in a creative environment,” said Stephenson, 25. “So I looked online, spoke with my teachers and contacted local organizations for help to put a business plan together.”

The CFDC and the CYBF offers entrepreneurs like Stephenson, a variety of products and services to promote small business growth and community economic development. Brian Chalmers, Business & Loans Advisor at CFDC, guided Stephenson along the process of creating the business plan for AV Marketing Inc. “We tell clients to believe in themselves and their opportunity and to have the tenacity to keep knocking on doors until you get the right financial support, and, in Andrews’s case, the right client support,” said Chalmers. “It was very clear when Andrew first came into the CFDC offices that he intended to make his business succeed. Working with us and in conjunction with CYBF, Andrew continuously dug down to come up with whatever was required.”

Since launching his company, Stephenson has landed various projects, most notably, the 2012 Miss Canada “Break the Silence” video campaign speaking out about abuse. Currently, AV Marketing Inc is working with Competition Toyota on creating various videos surrounding product launches as well as a corporate style video.

While AV Marketing Inc is just a couple of months new, Stephenson is keen on giving back to the community. Starting at the beginning of June AV Marketing is looking to hit 500 ‘likes’ over 4 weeks on their Facebook page (facebook.com/avmarketinginc) – at which point they will donate $500 to the Canadian Diabetes Association. The organization choice was a no brainer for Stephenson as diabetes has affected his family.

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