Business cards were exchanged like Pokemon inside the RBC Convention Center on Thursday.
Escor (Beko) Mbeko-Edem had a suitcase full of his company’s hot sauce on hand. “I’m always ready. I can do anything with a setup like this.”
He was surrounded by fellow entrepreneurs and support groups. He was on the first stop of Startup Canada’s cross-country tour, which promotes business creation.
Ruth Bonneville/Free Press Photo University of Manitoba undergraduates and Eleven59 co-founders Todd de Groot, Anthony Theriault and Hazel Nguyen present their business ideas at the 2024 Stu Clark New Venture Championships at the Fort Garry Hotel. was promoted. At the RBC Convention Center, Callia Flowers founder Catherine Metrycki was the first keynote speaker for her Startup Canada touring base in Winnipeg.
Mbeko-Edem spoke in downtown Winnipeg on the same day the University of Manitoba launched the Stu Clark New Venture Championship, an annual competition to promote entrepreneurship that brings together academics from across Canada and the United States. passed through the convention center.
These events come at a time when there are 100,000 fewer entrepreneurs in Canada than there were 20 years ago, according to an October 2023 BDC report.
Still, Manitoba organizations that deal with startups say entrepreneurship is stable or growing.
“How can we energize the entrepreneurship ecosystem here in Canada?” asked Jocelyn Corneya, communications manager at Startup Canada.
Entrepreneurship is declining across the country because the risks are high, especially under high inflation, he said.
Startup Canada’s four-stop tour brings executives, lobbyists and governments together in the same room. Perhaps this will help boost entrepreneurship in the future, Kurneya added. “This is the stage where entrepreneurs make their voices heard.”
Steve Giber was ready to take the stage. He went into business with his idea and the will to make his $3,000 for his growing company.
Startup Canada held a pitch contest. The panel heard from Winnipeg entrepreneurs about their startup ideas. The winner received a cash prize and a flight ticket to Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario.
Winnipeg winners will compete against finalists from other Startup Canada tour locations for a $70,000 prize pool.
Dziver sought funding for True Ag Developments, a technology company that financially supports agricultural operations.
Finding funding for agricultural startups is difficult, he says. But Dziver believes in his product. “Financial reporting in agriculture requires some new technologies.”
Corneya points out that financing is often the biggest hurdle for entrepreneurs. The situation is even worse when the business owner is a woman or a minority, she added.
While approximately 350 tour participants attended speeches and workshops, students from across North America gathered a few blocks east at the Fort Garry Hotel to kick off the 20th anniversary of the Stu Clark New Venture Championship. Ta.
Debra Jonathon Young, IH Asper executive director of entrepreneurship at the university’s Stu Clark Center for Entrepreneurship, said students seem to be increasingly entrepreneurial. Probably so, she added.
“They’re going to need it depending on what the job market and the future of work is,” Jonathon-Young said, highlighting job cuts and consolidation within the industry. “This kind of thing puts control back in their hands.”
Jonathon-Young’s eyes lit up as she explained that 32 teams of about 65 students from universities including Yale University, Johns Hopkins University and San Diego State University were pitching business ideas. I did.
They competed against teams from Canada, including the University of Manitoba, for a total of $60,000 in prize money.
Proposals ranged from protein-packed gummies to technology for creating sustainable aviation fuel. The winners will be announced today.
“These students are really coming up with what will be the seeds of our future,” Jonathon-Young said. It’s important to develop entrepreneurial skills from a young age so that “when the magical moment comes…you can summon it.”
Ruth Bonneville / Free Press BIZ – eleven59 Photo of University of Manitoba undergraduate students and eleven59 co-founders Todd de Groot, Anthony Theriault, and Hazel Nguyen. Students pitched their business ideas Friday at the Stu Clark New Venture Championships at the Fort Garry Hotel. April 19, 2024 Ruth Bonneville / Free Press BIZ – eleven59 Photo of University of Manitoba undergraduate students and eleven59 co-founders Todd de Groot, Anthony Theriault, and Hazel Nguyen. Students pitched their business ideas Friday at the Stu Clark New Venture Championships at the Fort Garry Hotel. April 19, 2024
Anthony Theriault, Todd de Groot, and Hazel Nguyen have not yet completed their undergraduate degrees.
Still, they are ready to launch a business.
“I think I was born an entrepreneur,” Theriault, 19, said after the team presented their business plans to the judges.
Team Eleven 59 wants to build an app that organizes students’ course curriculum and school deadlines in a calendar and provides study advice using artificial intelligence.
The judges gave hints and asked questions. Is there any motivation to study? Why not sell this to universities? — and the students finished their presentation with excitement.
“One of them (judges) even gave us a card to help us raise money,” Thériault exclaimed. “It’s really wonderful.”
Last year, nearly 98 per cent of Manitoba businesses were classified as small (less than 100 employees). According to Startup Canada, small businesses employ about 71 per cent of the province’s private sector workforce.
Small businesses are “very important,” Jonathon-Young said. She wants Canada to build a culture where entrepreneurship is considered normal rather than a dangerous path.
Jonathon Young said the University of Manitoba places a greater emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship, adding that students from all departments are encouraged to start their own businesses.
Jonathon Young noted that Manitoba has a strong support network for entrepreneurs. She pointed to at least 23 organizations and her two incubators that are providing resources and funding.
One of the incubators, North Forge Technology Exchange, will be hosting its own pitch competition over the weekend of April 26th. Contestants do not need to be experienced businessmen. This event aims to give participants a taste of entrepreneurship.
The level of entrepreneurship in Manitoba remains “consistent,” says Northforge CEO Joel Foster.
The COVID-19 pandemic was an exception, with North Forge seeing a 300% increase in the number of founders. Foster attributed the spike to layoffs.
“We’re stable, but we can grow,” she said of the number of entrepreneurs in the state.
Foster added that the field could expand as there are more incentives to become business owners and entrepreneurship is emphasized more in elementary and high schools.
gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com
Gabriel Pichet
reporter
Gabby loves people, writing, and learning. She graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communication Program in the spring of 2020.
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