KAPUSKASING – Brock Babin, the 18-year-old owner of Northern Edge here in Kapuskasing recently had all of his efforts rewarded, as he was chosen one of six winners in this year’s Young Entrepreneurs – Make your Pitch competition.
Presented by Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) and the Government of Ontario, the Young Entrepreneurs, Make Your Pitch competition invites high school students in Ontario to pitch their business ideas in a two-minute video. Videos are judged through online public voting (40%) and expert judges’ scores (60%).
Twenty finalists among a field of 180 were chosen and were awarded a trip to Toronto to pitch their ideas live at OCE’s Discovery conference and showcase, May 13 & 14, 2019, in front of a panel of judges from the entrepreneur community.
“I was nervous when I went up on the stage. There were 2,000 people there,” said Babin. “Luckily, once I started talking about my product, I settled in and everything went well.”
Based on the live pitches, the judges select six winners who are presented with reserved entry into the Summer Company program along with a Muse 2 Headband from InteraXon, a HEXA 8” projector tablet and $750 education voucher.
Brock was chosen one of 20 finalists among a field of 180 applicants to go to Toronto to compete.
“Because I’ve already done the Summer Company Program, their taking the money that would have gone into that part of the prize to send me to an alternative program,” explained Babin.
Babin said he hoped that his success would lead other young entrepreneurs to follow in his footsteps.
“We may not hear about of a lot of these types of things up north, but there are a lot of opportunities out there if you do some homework,” he commented. “And I can tell people from my personal journey, that this has been an awesome experience.”
