The winter 2021 term was full of competition news for our undergraduate, graduate, alumni students — and their ventures. Here is a summary of their noteworthy accomplishments during the recent competition season.
Apex Business Plan Competition
The APEX Business Plan Competition is one of the first major competitions on the annual 'circuit' that our Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology (MBET) students compete in each year. We've had many wins in the past, and this year is no exception!
This year, for the 2021 hybrid (virtual) competition, 6 teams of MBET students, including both full and part-time student venture teams. Maaz Hashimi and Arsalan Badar placed Second Overall for their venture, ASPx; Hanna Kyowski and Paul Marchildon won Best Social Enterprise for their venture, Cove; and Stefanie Bruinsma won Second Place in the Elevator Pitch for her venture, MissMechanic. Congratulations everyone!
Arsalan Badar; Paul Marchildon; Hanna Kyowski; Stefanie Bruinsma; Maaz Hashimi.
Jack Rosen Memorial Awards
Each year as a part of the Jack Rosen pitch competition, the Faculty of Environment students are invited to submit an idea (device, process, or method) that could solve, mitigate, or avoid an environmental problem.
Congratulations to Team Decomp for winning the top prize, and kudos to Team Prokaryo for placing in the top three. Both of the teams include current and former Conrad School undergraduate and MBET students. Team Decomp members Tooba and Gabriel are both MBET alumni. Team Prokaryo members Nicholas, Liahm and Alexander are all undergraduate BET course students.
Munira Lakdawala; Isabella Daneyko; Haya EL-Merheby; Tooba Mohtsham and Gabriel Saunders.
Nicholas Jelich; Liahm Ruest and Alexander Racher.
Hult Prize at University of Waterloo
After several rounds of virtual competitions, the top three winning teams from this year's Hult Prize On-Campus challenge, Food For Good, were announced in February. Congratulations to all competitors!
Team SaveBread
Over 40% of produced food never touches a plate. The SaveBread platform will leverage tax credits to connect parties who produce extra food with people who don't have enough.
Team SaveBread members Ion Buzdugan, Fraser Robinson, Nathan Smith and Robin Pearce.
Team Jack-O-Lanterns
Jackfruit is so abundant that tonnes get wasted every year, as farmers don't know how to utilize it. Jack-O-Lantern's mission is to minimize wastage by creating a platform for farmers to connect with potential customers and vendors.
Team Jack-O-Lanterns members Jatin Rishi, Khushboo Ahluwalia, Rohun Bhardwaj and Umair Khalid.
Team Bloom
Bloom is a peer to peer debt and equity fundraising platform for the agricultural industry with the goal of funding the future of farming.
Team Bloom members Sean Malia, John Liu and Wali Zia.
Concept $5k
This semester marked our return to a live finals event, virtually, of course, and the student teams stepped up to put on an impressive and entertaining show. Four Conrad School student teams made it to the finals, and three of the four winning teams have a Conrad School connection.
In this brief video, Ryan Gallagher from winner Scribenote's founding team and Enterprise Co-op (E Co-op) student reflects on the team's preparations for the pitch and the intrinsic value competitions offer entrepreneurs.
Learn more about all of the Concept $5k winter 2021 winners including Aquasensing and their team member Connor Al-Joundi who is also an E Co-op and BET 300, Foundations of Venture Creation student.
VCIC Canada Finals
Sidhant Sakhuja is a Senior Investment Associate at the University of Waterloo Student Venture Fund (SVF) and a current full-time MBET student. He and his fellow SVF associates placed second overall at the recent Graduate Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC). Well done Sidhant; Brendan; Julee, Victor; Julia and Shubhankar!
Sidhant Sakhuja