Paper Plant Project Wins Fifth Annual Cubs' Lair Entrepreneurship Competition

The Innovation Cluster and Peterborough & the Kawarthas Economic Development (PKED) have announced the winner of the 5th Cubs’ Lair Entrepreneurship Competition. Six finalists competed to win the grand prize valued at over $7,000 at the Gordon Best Theatre on Thursday evening (November 21st).

Vanessa Mathieu, Joao Borges, Alesha Colaco and Jo Ho took home the grand prize for their innovative business, Paper Plant Project. Started by the Enactus Fleming team at Fleming College, these students are leading the project which involves the production of paper planters from recycled paper waste as educative kits for schools to promote biodegradable practices.

Paper Plant Project team from Enactus Fleming

“It was a lot of work that we put into this project,” says Joao Borges of the winning team. “It really speaks volumes to the fact that we are on the right track and starting to see value for the accomplishments that we’re doing on our product lines and all the impact that we could potentially create. We are looking forward to keep working hard and keep making wins like this one tonight.”

Joao Borges and Alesha Colaco from winning team

“With [the winning] package, we are definitely going to be investing into some marketing research with teachers as well as other marketing niches,” Borges adds.

“We will also be updating our website with Shopify as well as investing a lot into the manufacturing process to make sure we are being as efficient and consistent as possible. We also are going to take advantage of being connected with the community and get into the minds of the people around us because by the end of the day, we want to help Fleming College as a whole but also ultimately help our community.”

Left to right: Runners-up Flow Codes & Eco Care with winners Paper Plant Project

Runners-up included Shane Willis and Tanner Morrow with their business idea Eco Care, a property maintenance company focused on electric powered landscaping equipment, as well as Telsi Szanyi of Flow Codes, a subscription service for wellness resources with a focus on promoting well-being for employees in the workplace.

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Entrepreneur Wins Cubs' Lair With Innovative Solution For First Nations To Obtain Tax Exemption

After six innovative pitches were made during the annual Cubs’ Lair competition Thursday night (November 30th) at the Gordon Best Theatre hosted by FastStart Peterborough, the Innovation Cluster and the Trent Youth Entrepreneurship Society, Rich Cochrane of Status Exempt was announced as the winner. His final prize package includes more than $14,000 to help push his startup.

Member of Curve Lake First Nation, Rich Cochrane started Status Exempt as a mission to make it easy for First Nations shoppers to buy online, tax exempt. Currently, First Nations online shoppers need to submit their receipts to the government for a tax refund, a process that can take up to 90 days—Cochrane’s innovative solution will reduce this to mere minutes.

Left to right: Runner-up Sultan Moni of Zatiq; Winner Rich Cochrane of Status Exempt, Runner-up Victoria Naish of The Cake Engineer.

Currently working in the Cluster’s incubator building his business, Cochrane has been busy creating a platform for businesses and First Nations consumers to provide tax exemption in an easy way.

“Reconciliation is a hot topic in Canada right now,” says Cochrane. “A big component of reconciliation is building a stronger relationship between Indigenous Canadians and the rest of Canada and businesses will play a critical role in building that relationship.”

First Nations represent over three percent of Canada’s population and are also the fastest growing segment of the population with many living in remote or rural areas having no other option but to shop online. With this solution, Cochrane predicts that businesses will gain a large group of consumers.

Cochrane’s background includes being a banker in downtown Toronto, an analyst in the Aboriginal Banking unit at the Bank of Montreal, and graduating from the University of Windsor with a Bachelor of Commerce, specializing in Finance, Accounting and Entrepreneurship.

Cubs' Lair finalists and judges (Photograph by Sofie Andreou)

Judges listened to pitches that included tech innovations for archaeology, real estate, energy saving and mobile apps, as well as a pitch for a cupcake bar service.

The two runners up of the competition are Sultan Moni of Zatiq and Victoria Naish of The Cake Engineer.

Rich Cochrane will now be able to push his startup with the grand prize package, which includes $3,000 cash from Ontario 150, extended incubator space at the Cluster, coaching and mentoring from established startups and more.

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