May the best business win
3/18/2009 4:17:17 PM
Three post secondary students will compete for a cash prize of $5,000 on Thursday in a joint venture between College of the North Atlantic (CNA) and the Community Business Development Corporation (CBDC).
“Angel Investment was developed to help create awareness of small business development for entrepreneurs that are currently enrolled in post secondary institutions in Newfoundland and Labrador,” says Roseanne Leonard, Managing Director with the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of CBDCs.
“CBDCs have many programs that help entrepreneurs start up and expand and specifically the Youth Ventures program was created to help foster and support an entrepreneurial culture in students. We've realized that students at various levels of education have different needs. As a result, the CBDCs developed Angel Investment, a program that caters to students in a post-secondary environment who want to start or expand a small business.”
The contest was open to full-time and part-time post-secondary students between the ages of 19 and 29. The students must have been interested in starting and operating a business after graduation.
Each contestant submitted a business plan and three finalists were selected earlier this week. The three contestants will face off on Thursday, March 19 at the college’s Grand Falls-Windsor campus with the winning pitch receiving an investment of $5,000.
“We were very excited to have received seven applications,” says Leonard. “This program had been discussed with the CBDCs for several weeks, but it wasn't until we approached CNA that it really took a mind of its own. With only a few weeks to promote the event to as many post secondary students as possible, our project coordinator hit the road to visit as many campuses as possible to generate a buzz. In addition, many representatives from CNA took it upon themselves to promote the event to all students. It was a very hectic few weeks, but generated quite a few enquiries.”
She says the contestants were judged on criteria such as marketing, financial planning, and customer service.
“It was a very tight race, but the seven were narrowed down to three. From there, all three will be travelling to Grand Falls-Windsor to make a five minute presentation, and then partake in the five minute question and answer activity to give the best pitch for their business. Four judges will decide on a winner who will then work with the CBDCs to start or expand their business,” continues Leonard.
The three finalists include students from CNA, Memorial University and Keyin College.
Finalists
FreedomEvents is based in Corner Brook. The main goal of FreedomEvents is to establish Newfoundland as a destination for unique arts, entertainment, and training. An extension of FreedomArts Bellydance, this business is owned and operated by Linda Bursey. Bursey is a second year student of Business Administration at CNA’s Corner Brook campus.
She plans to host three belly dance events in the next year, as well as unique training experiences such as yoga in years two and three. Bursey plans to offer events on a quarterly basis by year five of operation.
Looking long term, FreedomEvents’ goal is to be firmly established in the western Newfoundland region hosting specialty events to bring training as well as promotional events for well being, culture and entertainment.
If she wins the Angel Investment competition, Bursey plans to use the prize money to promote her first major event in Corner Brook.
Entelect Consulting is a new business that will provide general facilitation services to a diverse client base from the public, private and non-profit sector. These services include meetings, events, focus group facilitation, strategic planning, and leadership development, with a focus on delivering specialized programming related to youth retention and engagement for industry and government.
Erin Aylward of St. John’s, is the majority owner of the business. She is in her fourth year of political science at Memorial University.
Having already experienced success working as Youth Facilitators with Human Resources Labour and Employment's Youth Retention and Attraction Strategy, this company has multi-pronged market strategy to grow their client base, and triple sales in the next three years.
If Aylward wins the Angel Investment competition, the money will be used to cover start up and operating costs.
Finally, Matt Sharpe Magic is a St. John's based entertainment company that provides customers with a unique comedy magic show, featuring live animals and lost audience interaction.
Matt Sharpe Magic caters to the family market, targeting both adults and children separately; aiming to please children with the service, while advertising the actual business to parents - the ultimate decision makers.
Sharpe has been operating this business since 2004 and has seen tremendous growth. He is currently enrolled in the Business Management/Human Resource Management program at Keyin College in St. John's.
If he takes home the prize money from the competition, Sharpe plans to use the money to increase his number of corporate events to diversify his customer base.
“Angel Investment gives students a head start in setting up their business and becoming an entrepreneur,” says Shirley Woodward, Manager of Student Recruitment and Enrollment with CNA.
“It’s an excellent opportunity to gain experience in developing a business plan and is valuable because you get to actually present and define your business plan to a panel of experts. As a partner in this project, CNA is pleased with the response from students and we look forward to seeing the event grow in the future.”
“I'm really excited to see how this program is going to grow,” adds Leonard. “The CBDCs in the other Atlantic Provinces are very interested to see how it develops and we've been approached by several other organizations and provincial government departments who want to be a part of it in future years.”
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For more information please contact:
Glenda McCarthy
Public Relations Assistant
College of the North Atlantic
(709) 643-6408
glenda.mccarthy@cna.nl.ca