Guy Harvey Awarded Medal for Entrepreneurial Leadership

Guy Harvey told Elon University students to not give up when in the
field of entrepreneurship considering it took him 10 years as an entrepreneur
to make an income.
The Elon University Medal for Entrepreneurial Leadership was
awarded to Harvey on Feb. 23. The ceremony took place in LaRose Digital
Theatre in the Ernest A. Koury, Sr. Business Center at 5 p.m., which was
crowded with Elon faculty and students. The President of Elon University,
Leo Lambert, was the one to award Harvey the medal.
This medal is given to entrepreneurs that are leaders in their field who
also embody Elons values and this year that person was Harvey. Harvey is a
marine wildlife artist and conservationist. He has his own line of coastal
lifestyle sportswear featuring his art and also owns an art gallery and gift
shop on Grand Cayman Island.
Harvey has also established the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation and
Guy Harvey Research Institute at Nova Southeastern University. These
organizations help to fund marine conservation research and educational
programs. Harvey said the Guy Harvey Research Institute has produced over
80 peer-reviewed papers in its time.

Harvey told the audience that he has been interested in art and fishing
from a very young age, which drew him to the field of marine biology. He
studied marine biology at Aberdeen University in Scotland and then went on
to earn his Ph.D. in fisheries biology at the University of the West Indies.
The business Harvey created started a few years after his schooling in
1986. Harvey has always had a love for art and learned it in five different
mediums: pen and ink, watercolor, acrylic, oil and photography. He said his
goal with his artwork was to attempt at recreating the animals, bringing them
back to life. Going diving is something Harvey said he does often to get
closer to the animals in order for him to recreate them more accurately.
Although his business began in 1986 he told the audience he did not
start to make a profit until 10 years later. Harvey worked hard at his business
and never gave up until it became a huge success; he encouraged Elon
students looking into entrepreneurship to do the same.