March 16, 2014
Student Entrepreneurs Compete for Seat at Brigham Young
A team of student entrepreneurs from Wilfrid Laurier University has won first prize at the second annual Canada’s Business Model Competition held March 14-15 at Dalhousie University’s Rowe School of Business.
Canada’s Business Model Competition is the national qualifier competition for the International Business Model Competition and is organized by the Starting Lean Initiative, a project of the Norman Newman Centre for Entrepreneurship at the Rowe School of Business. The two-day event had teams registering from across Canada to attend a panel discussion and fireside chat with Steve Blank on Friday and to compete for the Canadian finals on Saturday. The first place winner will advance to the International Business Model Competition at Brigham Young University, in Provo Utah later this spring.
The teams of student entrepreneurs competed for a share of the $50,000 Deloitte Smart Launch Award. First place Teknically from Wilfrid Laurier University received $25,000 in cash and in-kind services from Deloitte, second place Sparkgig from the University of Waterloo earned a $15,000 prize package and Santé West from the University of British Columbia a $10,000 package.
- Teknically from University of Wilfrid Laurier: Teknically builds software as a service solutions that solve problems for small businesses.
- Sparkgig from the University of Waterloo: Sparkgig is an online marketplace that connects performers to event opportunities or gigs.
- Santé West from the University of British Columbia: Santé West has developed a knee brace that uses partial load bearing technology to reduce injury recovery time.
- StudentFresh from Memorial University: StudentFresh is a web service that connects students freelancers to local employers.
“Deloitte is proud to partner with Canada’s Business Model Competition as we present new ways of thinking about innovation and entrepreneurship. The Deloitte Smart Launch Award is one step in our journey to help clients with every size of business to transform ideas into successes, and create more value for their business and our community,” said Brian Black, Senior Manager at Deloitte Canada, Atlantic, Deloitte.
Information Contact: Colin Craig
Dalhousie Faculty of Management
902-223-3981
Background Information:
Canada’s Business Model Competition: https://www.bmccanada.ca/
International Business Competition: http://www.businessmodelcompetition.com
Steve Blank and the Udacity course EP 245 “How to Build a Startup” – https://www.udacity.com/course/ep245