Students pitch startup ideas at contest
Pitch It! was part of Entrepreneurship Week
The fourth annual Pitch It! competition’s winners have been announced.
Twelve student teams competed on Fleming College’s Sutherland Campus on Thursday. The Dragons’ Den style contest had students pitch their ideas in four different categories — Clean Technology and Agriculture, Trades and Retail, Information Technology and Digital and the new Secondary School category.
The winners were Joao Borges and Emily Scott in the Clean Technology and Agriculture category, Nolan Maguire in the Trades and Retail category, Caelean Booth in the Information Technology and Digital category and Jordan Moody in the Secondary School category. Each team of young innovators received $500 to advance their ideas further.
The panel of judges for the event included Community Futures Peterborough loans manager Ryan Plumpton, Kawartha Credit Union manager Catherine Darling, company programs co-ordinator Simon Treviranus and Trish O’Conner, chairwoman of the school School of Environmental and Natural Resource and Sciences, and director of the Office of Sustainability at Fleming College.
The event was part of the Innovation Cluster’s Entrepreneurship Week.
“This event allowed any local aspiring entrepreneur in the Peterborough area to get out of their comfort zone and practice pitching a business idea,” stated Rosalea Terry, marketing manager and senior innovation specialist at the Innovation Cluster.
“Many participants from the competition will continue to pursue entrepreneurship in the future, with help from FastStart and the Innovation Cluster.”