Teams from the Ivey Business School scored wins in both the IBK Capital - Ivey Business Plan Competition and the Spin Master - Ivey HBA Business Plan Competition on January 20, 2018.
Team Hello Prosper from the Ivey won the 20th edition of the IBK Capital – Ivey Business Plan Competition, securing $15,000. Hello Prosper is a mobile application that helps young users build soft skills required to land their dream jobs. The team consisted of Krystyn Harrison, HBA’ 12, MBA ’15, Beckie Thain-Blonk, MBA ’18 Candidate and Sam Williams.
The Graduate-level Competition included nine teams representing the University of Arkansas, University of Louisville, University of Waterloo, University of Toronto, and Western University.
The hard-fought tie
The Spin Team Impedix and RollUP Solutions Inc., from the Ivey Business School shared the first-place prize at the Spin Master – Ivey HBA Business Plan Competition. With the judges unable to separate the strong contestants, both teams were awarded $9,500.
Team Impedix, led by Colin Russell, Josh Redding, Elaine Cook, Austin Haber, Natasha Jain, and Brady Johnson, was developed during the New Venture Project. The venture is a medical device company that will license a medical imaging technology from Western University, and sell it to healthcare providers in the developed world with the objective of improving breast cancer screening.
Team RollUP Solutions is a social enterprise that hires individuals with employment barriers to collect and refurbish gently used mobility devices, which are then sold to those in need at a 75% discount. The venture is led by '18/'19 HBA Candidates, Megan MacKay, Nicole Plant, Grant McNaughton, Leanne McKinnon, Andre Margo, and Emily Stauffer. RollUP Solutions also won a $1000 for the Social Impact Prize.
The two-day competition weekend included workshops by a team from MaRS Discovery District and Albert Behr of Behr & Associates, as well as a fireside panel with Pamela Jeffery, HBA ’84, MBA ’88, David Ciccarelli, QS ’17 and Stephanie Ciccarelli. To read more on the specific competitions, please visit IBK Capital - Ivey Business Plan Competition and Spin Master - Ivey HBA Business Plan Competition.