A diverse group of entrepreneurs — from a 15-year-old to a group of nursing students to a pair of St. Francis Xavier University professors —have been named winners of the second annual Spark Cape Breton entrepreneurship competition.
Innovacorp, the provincial innovation agency, has announced eight winners will divide the total prize money of $200,000, up from six winners in the first competition last year.
Innovacorp, the Atlantic Provinces Opportunities Agency and the Nova Scotia Economic and Rural Development and Tourism Department — all clients of Entrevestor — organize the competition to encourage entrepreneurship in Cape Breton and the Mulgrave area.
Bob Pelley, the Innovacorp director in Sydney, said he saw a huge difference in the pitches this year, with 28 entrants competing at a higher level than before.
“The level of preparedness just seemed to skyrocket,” Pelley said in an interview. “The pitches were fantastic and the willingness of the participants to accept mentoring and (change their business plan) on the spot was evident.”
The winners, and the amounts won, are:
• Lokol.me, $50,000
Richard Lorway and Mathew Georghiou formed this company to develop a platform for local news and information websites for communities around the world.
• Sona Nanotech, $50,000
A regional finalist in last year’s I-3 competition, Sona was formed by St. F.X. profs Gerrard Marangoni and Kulbir Singh to commercialize their research in nanotechnology, which include health-care applications such as cancer treatment.
• Chatsubo Heavy Industries, $45,000
Founded by Kaleb DeLeskie, 15, the company is developing the Chatsubo Packet Monster, an Internet security device that will allow real-time collection and storage of Internet traffic.
• TACKK Mobile Health Solutions, $25,000
TACKK grew out of a project in a community nursing course at Cape Breton University. Christopher Walker, Athanasius Sylliboy and a team of classmates developed an app called FootChek, a real-time foot-monitoring device intended to reduce diabetic foot ulcers.
• Social Response Marketing, $10,000
The company founded by Joe Ward is developing an automated web tool that helps small businesses create, schedule and publish updates for Facebook and Twitter.
• Prevail Innovations, $10,000
The company established by Robert MacKenzie is developing an app for mobile devices that enhances the efficiency and accuracy of dictation.
• Rent Buddy, $5,000
Founded by Matthew McKay of Sydney Forks, Rent Buddy’s website helps property managers create profiles of their properties to speed up the listing process. It also makes it easier for prospective tenants to search for properties.
• UpTime.Management, $5,000
D. Darren MacDonald’s UpTime.Management helps organizations enhance the health of their employees though real-time knowledge of work-absence trends, analytics, coaching and performance management.
The winners have to use the money to complete prototypes or prepare for taking their product to the market. The organizers will also continue to work with them by having veteran entrepreneurs mentor winners.
Pelley said mentorship played a larger role in this competition than in the first year.
“It actually felt like Spark was more of an accelerator than just a competition. That is what we will be moving toward next time around.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Entrevestor receives financial support from government agencies that support start-up companies in Atlantic Canada. The sponsoring agencies play no role in determining which companies are featured in this column nor do they have the right to review columns before they are published.
