On April 24, the fourth Trillium Lakelands District School Board (TLDSB) Young Entrepreneurs in Action Showcase took place at the Rene M. Caisse Memorial Theatre at Bracebridge and Muskoka Lakes Secondary School (BMLSS).
In this Dragon’s Den-style event, a panel of community judges evaluated business pitches from 16 participants, consisting of both individual students and teams. All secondary schools in TLDSB were invited to participate. Each presenter had five minutes to pitch their concept to the judges, which included David Cowdery from Launch Kawartha, Will Gibson, president of the Rotary Club of Huntsville, Dani McNelly from Ampere, and Jennifer Thomas, a Royal LePage representative and owner of three Muskoka barbershops.
The judges were actively involved throughout the event, offering students guidance, asking insightful questions, and providing valuable advice. In several instances, judges whose professional background aligned with a student’s pitch encouraged them to connect after the event for further networking.
The event also featured insights from guest speakers, Luke Preston, the regional economic development and grants officer for the District Municipality of Muskoka, and Liam Martin-McTavish, owner and founder of McT Construction. Martin-McTavish shared his journey from starting a business at 15 years old and who now builds homes and cottages in Muskoka.
After deliberation, the winners were announced and all 16 students were collectively awarded a total of $16,000.
First place, and a prize of $3,500, went to Clair Allison and Jolene Alaire from BMLSS for their company Ever Shine. Their winning idea is an anti-tarnish jewelry spray designed to keep inexpensive jewelry looking new.
“It was interesting, we both learned a lot,” said Allison.
“I haven’t felt this good about anything before. We put a lot of hard work into this,” added Alaire, who noted that their first priority is to purchase the necessary supplies to grow their business.
The pair will move on to the Provincial Showcase at the Ontario Skills Competition in Toronto on Tuesday, May 5.
“It was inspiring to see students presenting real world business ideas. They put themselves into a high stress environment and showed incredible poise. In talking to the judges they mentioned struggling to ask questions because a number of students had effectively covered all the details they were looking for,” said TLDSB experiential learning consultant, Ian McTavish.
Congratulations to all the participants for their hard work and innovation.
