Left to right: Kaylee Darlington and Erika Spagnuolo of Wholistic Wealth. (Photo by Jackie Li)
Left to right: Kaida Cheah and Izzy Page of Sea to Soil.
Left to right: Judges Zachary Dutton, Dean Barbara Crow, Morton Friis (ArtSci ’77)
Left to right: Noah Gandl Black, Tess Ruby, Ben Stevens and Ruby Wall of OSH.
Left to right: Maverick Labie, Erika Spagnuolo, Kaylee Darlington and Scott Fordham of Wholistic Wealth.
Left to right: Chelsea Lee, Izzy Page, Kaida Cheah and Chantel Brayall of Sea to Soil.
Challenging themselves
Eight teams vie for funding at annual Dean’s Changemaker Challenge.
The Dean’s Changemaker Challenge hosted its fall pitch competition last week with eight teams vying for funding to develop a new business venture. The Challenge is a hands-on learning opportunity for students to collaborate with other undergraduate students from across the Faculty and make meaningful changes in ways that matter.
The teams that competed in the live event are enrolled in ASCX 200, a course designed to teach how to apply startup business principles, concepts, and frameworks to real-world situations. In addition, you will evaluate how disruptive and incremental innovations bring about changes in the market through new business models, technologies, and paradigms.
A panel of expert judges, including Dean Barbara Crow, awarded Wholistic Wealth Education, OHS Rentals, and Sea to Soil seed funding in the amount of $2,500.
“This and convocation are two of the most exciting events of the year for me,” says Dean Crow. “The event is all about you and the change you want to make.”
She was joined on the judging panel by Morton Friis and Zachary Dutton. Morton Friis (ArtSci ‘77) graduated from Queen’s in 1977 with a BA Honours in Economics. In 1979 he graduated with an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. He joined the Royal Bank of Canada in Montreal in the fall of 1979 and had 34-year career with RBC.
Zachary Dutton is the Executive Director of the Venture Forum, a Worcester, MA based non-profit that helps local entrepreneurs start and scale their businesses. He is a seasoned business professional and leader with over 25 years of business and entrepreneurial experience, primarily in the healthcare industry, including pharmaceuticals, medical foods, and dietary supplements.
The three winners of the fall event included:
- OSH Rentals - Ruby Wall, Tessa Ruby, Ben Stevens, and Noah Gandl Black. The mission of OSH Rentals and Financial Advice is to create a service that compares student rentals from multiple companies in one program and then organizes rental costs and expenses in a visible financial plan.
- Wholistic Wealth Education - Maverick Labrie, Kaylee Darlington, Erika Spagnuolo, and Scott Fordham. Their vision is to create an interactive, participation-based course for all faculties within the university, with a focus on mental illness prevention.
- Sea to Soil - Kaida Cheah, Isabelle Page, Chantel Brayall, and Chelsea Lee. This team is interested in addressing the impact of fish waste on the environment and the economy. The team aims to tackle this issue by processing and converting fish silage and waste products into nutrient-rich fertilizer for local farms.
Dean Crow was particularly impressed with Wholistic Wealth Education and asked the team meet with her to start brainstorming ideas with an eye on bringing their concepts to fruition. “We are really excited that the Dean recognized the viability of our idea and encouraged us to meet with her,” Erika Spagnuolo from Wholistic Wealth Education says.
Teammate Kaylee Darlington echoed that comment adding “there has been a bit of lack of mental health support as students are dealing with the impacts of COVID. It’s reassuring they are taking us seriously and they want to see it happen.”
“All of the ideas presented here today had traction, so we were surprised we won,” Ruby Wall from OHS Rentals says. “We have a very viable product, but we must be quick so someone else doesn’t claim our idea. We just need to get in touch with the right people.”
Teammate Tessa Ruby also added how the course is an excellent opportunity for students to test themselves and earn funding for their ideas.
The five other teams that competed in the event included:
- Safe House - Shayanne Bachani, Ayyah Elayan, Coljae Berry, Rukana Ragutharan, and Karen Cheng.
- Equip Me - Madeleine Zalewski, Mia Barsa, Jess Hudson, and Finlay Gane.
- Gateway - Andrew Nathanael, Lukas Rohner-Tensee, and Mia Leglise.
- Stylescope - Prusha Balaratnam and Sanaya Jivani.
- NCOMEr. - Alexander Patskou and Peyton Hernandez.
To learn more, visit the Dean’s Changemaker Challenge webpage.