Student entrepreneurs make finals at a different kind of rodeo

Two University of Calgary undergraduate student entrepreneurs participated in a different kind of rodeo during this year’s Calgary Stampede.

Erica Hughes and Ally Penic competed in Bow Valley College’s Innovation Rodeo from July 9 to 13. Both entrepreneurs advanced from the daily pitch competitions to the finals. Hughes won second place and $5,000 cash.

A big stepping stone

Hughes, a fourth-year Bachelor of Commerce student and single mother of twin boys, is the founder of CareFind, a startup that connects parents and caregivers with childcare openings. Hughes was shocked to come in second place and is excited to use the prize money to further develop her business.

“With the funds, CareFind's website can further develop and evolve based off feedback from our current users,” Hughes said, “This will be a big stepping stone!”

Hughes was a winning team member of the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation’s 2017 RBC Fast Pitch Competition and participated in the Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking’s Summer Incubator Program in 2017. She is now participating in the 150 Startups, a province-wide entrepreneurship development program for first-time entrepreneurs in colleges and universities across Alberta.

An intense week of learning

Over the first four afternoons of the event, students built their skills at keynotes and panels with successful entrepreneurs. Each day, they tackled innovation challenges to find unique solutions to design thinking-based business cases and the emerging entrepreneurs competed for cash prizes in pitch competitions. The winners of each afternoon’s pitch competition advanced to Friday’s finals to compete for an additional $18,000 in prizes.

Ally Penic, a third-year Bachelor of Commerce student, is keen on finding any opportunities to develop her entrepreneurial skills. Her business partner was involved in 150 Startups last year, Penic said, so “it only made sense for us to participate with our new venture.”

Penic’s startup, HorseBit, is a biosensor implant for horses that monitors vital health statistics. She was part of the winning team of the 2018 RBC Fast Pitch Competition and is a current participant in the Summer Incubator Program.

“Winning isn’t everything but winning against so many competitive already-proven teams the first day really brought up my confidence. I was ecstatic with it being my first time ever pitching by myself,” Penic said about winning the daily pitch competition and advancing the finals at the Innovation Rodeo.

Penic’s biggest takeaway from the event was the invaluable connections she was able to make for her company. “The most important thing I have learned, especially in entrepreneurship, is that the results are never the end goal, progress is. Although we didn't come out with the results we wanted, I went and networked afterwards and got more value from connections I made than the monetary value of the prizes.”

About Innovation Rodeo

Innovation Rodeo is a five-day event aimed at developing emerging entrepreneurs. Organized by Bow Valley College’s Entrepreneur in Residence Craig Elias, it focuses on connecting innovators and entrepreneurs to share ideas, develop relationships, and build the skills needed to make their ideas a reality.

Founding partners include Alberta Enterprise, Alberta Innovates, Bennett Jones, Bow Valley College, BusinessLink, Innovate Calgary, and Royal Bank of Canada. SAIT and Calgary companies Alchemy Communications, Armadillo Studios Inc. and Little Rock Printing also provided support.