TORONTO, ON - October 29, 2014 /CNW/ - The Canadian Foundation for Economic Education (CFEE), in partnership with Scotiabank, today launched its new program "Entrepreneurship: The Spirit of Adventure."

The launch comes on the heels of another successful Small Business Week and just in advance of Financial Literacy Month in Canada. Small business and financial literacy are cornerstones of the "Entrepreneurship: The Spirit of Adventure" program.

This new program consists of an extensive video series and is geared to colleges, universities and high schools across the country. It features profiles and financial literacy advice from Canadian entrepreneurs such as David Chilton (The Wealthy Barber); Guy Laliberté (Cirque du Soleil); Ron Joyce (Tim Hortons) and many others.

"Education is most effective when it is engaging, relates to real world experiences and the interests of young people, is entertaining, captures passion, and inspires -- and this new series will do all of these for youth and adults," said Gary Rabbior, President of CFEE. "We expect thousands of teachers will use these tools with tens of thousands of students -- giving our youth a real boost in becoming more enterprising, financially capable and ultimately becoming Canada's entrepreneurs of the future."

"Entrepreneurs bring a mix of passion, innovation and vigor to the often challenging reality of running a successful small business," said John Roberts, Scotiabank's Vice President of Small Business. "We at Scotiabank are committed to being Canada's most recommended small business bank, and are proud to partner with CFEE to provide additional financial literacy tools to complement the products and services that we offer our small business customers and entrepreneurs across the country."

More than eight hours of online video material, supported by print resources and Internet links, will provide a wealth of valuable information to current and prospective entrepreneurs.

The launch of "Entrepreneurship: The Spirit of Adventure" took place at George Brown College in Toronto and involved a number of students, staff and faculty in an interactive session. Scotiabank executives Warren Jestin, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist and John Roberts, Vice President, Small Business Banking, participated in the launch.

The new video series is a follow-up to the original successful video series "Entrepreneurship for Canadians: The Spirit of Adventure," and will be available at no cost to high schools, community colleges and universities, including Aboriginal schools across Canada. The complete series and additional information can be found at www.cfeespiritofadventure.com.

Scotiabank is the primary sponsor of the new video series, "Entrepreneurship: The Spirit of Adventure." Magna International and Couche-Tard are also program sponsors.

"Highly entrepreneurial small and medium-sized businesses in rapid-growth areas will continue to be a key source of Canadian job creation over the next decade," said Warren Jestin, Chief Economist at Scotiabank. "The importance of small business to Canada's economic performance cannot be underestimated -- these businesses alone have created more than 100,000 jobs over the past year."

Scotiabank is committed to providing financial education, resources and advice to help people make informed financial decisions. To this end, during Financial Literacy Month 2014, Scotiabank is proud to be a Bronze sponsor of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada conference, "Strengthening Financial Literacy through Collaboration" in Vancouver. The conference will bring together leaders from the public, private and voluntary and academic sectors to address financial literacy.

About CFEE
CFEE is a federally chartered, non-profit, non-partisan organization, founded in 1974, that works to improve economic and financial literacy and enterprising capability. CFEE works collaboratively with ministries and departments of education along with school boards, schools, educators, and teacher associations. CFEE also engages in activities to support and assist newcomers and past immigrants to Canada, and the general public including print resources, videos, workshops, and online resources. Overall, CFEE aspires to help Canadians of all ages be better prepared to undertake their economic roles, responsibilities, and decisions with confidence and competence.

About Scotiabank
Scotiabank is a leading financial services provider in over 55 countries and Canada's most international bank. Through our team of more than 86,000 employees, Scotiabank and its affiliates offer a broad range of products and services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management, corporate and investment banking to over 21 million customers. With assets of $792 billion (as at July 31, 2014), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto (TSX: BNS) and New York (NYSE: BNS) Exchanges. Scotiabank distributes the Bank's media releases using CNW. For more information please visit www.scotiabank.com.