Young entrepreneurs had the chance to win big with valuable connections and cash at NAIT’s annual Pitch it to Me competition, hosted at the Productivity and Innovation Centre on Nov. 26.
The Pitch it to Me Competition is an annual competitive event held by NAIT’s Mawji Centre. Five NAIT students are selected as finalists and present their ambitious business ideas to a panel of judges. The top three winners are eligible for a prize of up to $4,000.
Dennis Sheppard, the Dean of the JR Shaw School of Business emphasized that the event is “really valuable” for students — especially those presenting their ideas for the first time.
“To compete, get feedback, ask questions, and to demonstrate that they’re passionate about their idea,” he said. The competition is also a great way for students to see what life is like at NAIT.
“Entrepreneurship is one of the things that we would say is our secret sauce at NAIT.”
The five finalists had a variety of ideas. Daniel Berg, founder of DriveSpec, creates software for automotive technicians that gives “instant access to accurate wheel-nut torque specifications.”
Peter Milne uses AI and virtual reality to assist treatment for trauma in therapy practices in his business, Praetorian Studios.
Another AI business came from Ayub Indoy. His pitch, Suko Scales, uses AI to generate leads to help business grow faster.
And this year’s winner, Om Shah, founder of Purus Aqua, wants to create “low-cost, modular filtration and storage systems for small-scale and Indigenous farms in the Prairies.”
Each one of them presented their business plans with confidence, outlining the problem they aim to solve, and further details on how their business model will work, the current market for their products or services, and any progress to date.
After the finalists presented their ideas, the moment the crowd had been anticipating arrived: the winners and prizes for this year’s competition were announced.
Praetorian Studios earned $1,000 for third place, and Daniel Berg and DriveSpec took home $2,500 for second. First place gave Om Shah $4,000.
Each of the winners got back on stage again following the announcement of their names and businesses, and afterwards, people got a chance to congratulate them. They were all celebrated for their ideas, but Shah’s idea really spoke to the judges.
“It’s been a really big issue for farmers because they’re losing their animals, their crops are going down, and it’s really affecting their livelihood,” he said.
“It definitely got us some of the awareness that we wanted … it just gives us some more confidence moving forward that we can move forward with this business and things could go well.”
Editor’s note: This article was originally published in the Nugget’s Dec. 10 print issue.
Feature image by Noura Eltinay
