Downtown Peterborough was buzzing with energy recently as Johnny Earle, founder of Johnny Cupcakes, an international t-shirt line, took the stage to address a full house of young entrepreneurs.

Organized by FastStart, the youth entrepreneurship training partnership between Trent University, the Greater Peterborough Innovation Cluster, and Fleming College, the event brought young entrepreneurs from the area out in droves.

As a self-described innovator with a serious passion for entrepreneurship, Mr. Earle offered attendees an engaging talk about how to start, grow, and reinvent their business and offered tips and tricks on how to create a unique experience with customers.

“Johnny not only showed us how to be a successful entrepreneur and how many times one may have to change their plans, but he showed us that you can do extremely well as long as you are doing something you love,” said Matthew Thompson, a second year Business student specializing in Entrepreneurship, and president of the Trent Youth Entrepreneurship Society, a group which was actively involved in the event