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
