The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) held the first event for their newly launched student entrepreneurial centre, Hatch, in the unicentre atrium on Oct. 1.
Hatch was created to support Carleton students’ start-up businesses and officially opened Sept. 17. The centre has a $50,000 budget, half of which came from “partnership revenue” according to CUSA’s 2014-15 budget.
During the summer Hatch partnered with Technology Innovation Management, a program run by Tony Bailetti, a professor in the Sprott School of Business, according to CUSA president Folarin Odunayo. The $25,000 will contribute to operating Hatch.
The first event, called “Raven’s Nest” was a pitch competition similar to CBC’s Dragon’s Den. Nine presenters showcased their ideas and five to six were selected as finalists. A panel of three entrepreneurs judged the competition.
“I thought the event was fantastic. It isn’t just limited to students who were on stage. Hatch provides services for any student with an interest in entrepreneurship,” Odunayo said.
Richard Coffin, a fourth-year business commerce student, was one of the winners for the event. His pitch was for a social media platform called “Sprout.”
“The idea was aimed at providing a list of volunteer opportunities to individuals,” Coffin said. “Users would be able to create a free online account which would add skills to their profile each time they completed a volunteer opportunity. The idea is to provide users a standardized method of presenting their developed skills to potential employers.”
Winners of the event will get work sessions with industry leaders, access to office space, seed funding, and one-on-one mentorship, according to the Facebook event.
“The judges who attended will offer advice and lead us in the right direction for talking to individuals who could help us out,” said Coffin. “It feels great knowing that other people see value in the idea.”
Binayak Kanungo, a fourth-year commerce student, was another winner at the event.
Kanugo said his idea began as a way of thinking about existing problems in a new way. He said he wants to buy shipping containers from Colombia and transform them into living spaces for displaced people.
“In many countries like Colombia there are an excess of shipping containers in shipping yards because it is too expensive to send them back where they came from,” said Kanungo.
Kanungo, alongside two other graduates, won at the DECA International Competition’s Entrepreneurship Challenge in Washington, D.C. last year.
“There is still a really long way to go,” he said. “The experience gained from what the Hatch program is going to provide to us is going to be invaluable no matter what happens. If we gain the experience while helping some people out along the way, that would be cool too.”
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