LOI’s annual Impact Innovation Challenge for young entrepreneurs across Canada was one for the books. This year, the Impact Innovation Challenge consisted of 3 categories for Aspiring Entrepreneurs, Growth Entrepreneurs and Non-Profit Entrepreneurs. The Innovation Challenge was designed to help young changemakers validate their unique ideas, gain access to a national network of resources and mentors, and give them the confidence to work on tangible solutions to personal, economic and social issues. Finalists had the opportunity to pitch their ventures and ideas for a chance to win cash, mentorship and coaching support to boost their mission.
A huge thank you to our partners for supporting youth entrepreneurs in Canada. The challenge and prizes were made possible by our partners at SAP, RBC, Hootsuite, Osler, Accelerate Okanagan, Scale Collaborative and Volition. Our cash prize of $5000 per category was made possible by SAP! A special thank you to our submission review committee, our judging panel, Volition for offering pitch training for our finalists, our Keynote, Nejeed Kassam and Ryan Holmes for meeting with the first place winners!
We received so many amazing submissions representing different solutions to a wide range of problems and were inspired by the level of creativity and ambition. On August 24, 2021, the top 7 finalists in each category pitched their ideas live to a panel of judges. Learn more about the finalists here. We were blown away by the quality of the pitches and ideas and can’t wait to see where these solutions take the winners. Thank you for being incredible examples of what it means to be passionate about a social issue and take bold actions to solve it! A huge congratulations to the winners in each category and a big thank you to our judges at the final pitch off and helping our finalists further their passion and vision.
Aspiring Entrepreneurs:
- 1st place: Devinder from Cequest: Cequest is using electrolysis to capture CO2 and sequester carbon in the fight against climate change: generating mineral bicarbonate to reverse ocean acidification, and hydrogen gas as a product or electricity generator.
- 2nd: Roaa from MODASTY: MODASTY is an online marketplace for modest fashion that aggregates modest and islamic inventory from brands worldwide.
- 3rd: Andrew, Kalter, Sanchi, Tyvaughn from ClinicalVR: ClinicalVR is using VR in the clinical setting for better pain and anxiety management.
Judges:
- Ananya Huria, Customer Success Partner and Lead for 1Billion Lives Program at SAP
- Andrea Welling, Regional Director for BC at Futurpreneur
- Kate Wilson, VP of Brand Marketing, Pela
- Mitalie Makhani, Senior Program Manager at the Centre for Social Innovation
- Shikhank Sharma, Social Innovation Consultant and Social Impact Curriculum Developer at League of Innovators
Growth Entrepreneurs:
- 1st place: Jessica and Chloe from Apricotton: Apricotton is an adjustable bra for young girls that grows with their growth
- 2nd place: Sang and Arielle from Peko Produce: Peko Produce offers boxes of "imperfect" produce to curb food waste
- 3rd place: Dolma from Flutter Care: Flutter Care is a digital health company promoting positive pregnancy experiences and outcomes.
Judges:
- Cindy Fagen, Managing Director at SAP Labs Canada
- Josephine Kwan, Program Manager at Spring Activator
- Nicola Jones-Crossley, Business Development Manager at Futurpreneur
- Paul Brassard, Managing Partner and Founder at Volition
Non-Profit Entrepreneurs:
- 1st place: Eliana, Lina and Peter from Viability (rebranding to Neurodivergent Futures): Viability provides accessible peer-to-peer coaching, mentorship and social and leadership programming, and teaches business leaders about neuroinclusion and helps them benefit from it in their organizations.
- 2nd place: Sophia from Threading Change: Threading Change is working at the intersections of consumer education towards the future where fashion is ethical and circular. They offer education programming, comprehensive solutions and consulting services for businesses.
- 3rd place: Jesse and Cassie from Warrior Yoga Network: A worldwide network of yoga and meditation teachers taking action to create a more inclusive and accessible yoga community.
Judges:
- Juanita Lee Garcia, Senior Manager, Strategic Partnerships & Social Impact at Venture for Canada
- Katie Booth, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, North America at SAP
- Kristi Rivait, Co-founding Director at Scale Collaborative
- Truman Wong, RBC Manager, Operations Process Strategy and Non-Profit Advisor
Thank you to our submission review committee that took the time to read all the challenge submissions and help chose the finalists:
- Anisha Yarlapati, SAP
- Chelsey Camp, SAP
- Joanna Buczkowska-McCumber, League of Innovators
- Juanita Lee-Garcia, Venture For Canada
- Manisha Narula, League of Innovators
- Martin Mysyk, SAP
- Mitalie Makhani, Centre for Social Innovation
- Nabeela Merchant, TELUS Pollinator Fund
- Nicola Crossley, Futurpreneur
- Rob Ironside, League of Innovators
- Samantha Gardner, Sunshine Connected
- Shikhank Sharma, League of Innovators
- Vivian Liu, SAP
We’re feeling more inspired than ever and look forward to working with these changemakers to support their solutions. Stay tuned for our Impact Innovation Challenge in 2022!
