Bears’ Lair competition orientation Tuesday
Kelli Coon may have earned runner-up in last year’s Bears’ Lair completion, but she walked away a winner.
“I felt like I was a winner. I had the exposure. I had that feeling in my heart, and I went away with the enthusiasm to take it and run with it,” Coon said.
The Bears’ Lair Entrepreneurial Competition is an annual contest for up-and-coming entrepreneurs in the region.
Details of the 2018 competition were announced Friday in the lobby of Venture-North on George St.
The contest opens Tuesday with an orientation session for interested entrepreneurs at the Peterborough Chamber of Commerce at 6 p.m.
Entrants must be a registered business and be able to undertake the proposed work with the next 12 months. Annual sales must also be less than $200,000.
Application forms can be found online at www.bearslairptbo.ca and the deadline to apply is Feb. 15.
Semi-finalists will compete in a showcase event at The Venue in March. Then the top six finalists will move onto the final pitch April 18 at The Venue. That’s where they’ll have the chance to pitch their business to a panel of judges and the community to win cash and prizes.
Judges this year include Nicole Verkindt, founder and CEO of OMX, a Canadian technology company, and former Dragon on CBC’s Next Gen Dragon’s Den, and Rhonda Barnet, president and COO of Steelworks Design Inc. and chair of the Canadian Manufactures and Exporters Board of Directors. The third judge will be announced at a later date.
Coon’s business idea, Ship Shape Service, a boat cleaning company, won her second place in the goods and services stream in 2016.
Applicants can enter their business in the goods and services or innovation stream. Goods and services is for businesses creating and selling products or delivering a service and innovation is for businesses focused on technology, innovation and ideas.
Coon’s was already running a property management business in the Kawarthas when she started thinking about the boat cleaning business.
Then she heard about Bears’ Lair and decided to take the plunge.
“It allowed me to really focus and narrow in on what it is I needed to get this out there,” Coon said of the competition.
Without the program, Coon said she wouldn’t be where she is today with her business.
“That experience burst new enthusiasm in me,” she said, adding how much the mentorship and training helped her along as well.
Bears’ Lair also gave her the confidence she needed to move ahead with her vision, Coon said.
And confidence is the most important takeaway a contestant can leave with, said Diane Richard, Bears’ Lair chairwoman.
That assurance can come from a number of avenues, Richard said, including the support from the network of peers met through the competition and the support of the economic partners involved.
This year, Bears’ Lair added a Support campaign to help winners walk away with a little more cash in their coffers.
While the mentorship opportunities are great, Richard said she often hears that more money is always helpful.
“We wanted to make sure we put as much cash in their pockets as possible for them to use however they need to use to accelerate their business,” said Richard.
Community members, businesses and organizations can donate a minimum of $100 towards Bears’ Lair, which will go directly into the winning pot.
Donors will get a Bears’ Lair badge for their website and their logo will be added to the competition’s site. Contributors will also get free tickets to the final pitch.
The 2018 Bears’ Lair is presented by Community Futures Peterborough, Peterborough and the Kawarthas Economic Development, the Innovation Cluster, Peteroborugh Angels and Mega Brand Experience.