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Student entrepreneur takes flight at university competition

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A Mount Royal University student’s dreams of starting his own business received a big financial boost after his pitch captured first prize in a competiton for young entrepreneurs this week.

Tarandeep Singh Kainth, a third-year businesses administration student, was awarded $35,000 in startup funds and in-kind contributions for his company, Sharyeo, on Wednesday.

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Sharyeo is a platform where photographers, DJs, videographers can rent and lend equipment to each other. Users have access to insurance as well as account verification.

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Kainth described the experience as surreal.

“It feels like the amalgamation of a year’s worth of work coming to fruition,” he said.

The JMH Launch Pad Pitch Competition, which is hosted by Mount Royal’s Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, is in its seventh year of operation. The Dragons’ Den-style competition allows student entrepreneurs to pitch their company in front of judges and an audience for a share of $80,000 in startup funds.

The prize money was divided into three parts: $10,000 in cash, $15,000 in kind for development services, and $10,000 for in-kind legal services.

Kainth said he’ll use the money to build out the platform and marketing.

He added Sharyeo has 200 early users, with two rental businesses on the platform and about 500 items.

Kainth said his original plan was for the company to be a wide-ranging rental platform before he realized it would be too difficult to be a jack of all trades. He soon determined where the platform could thrive.

“Being an amateur photographer, I knew there was a need for this within my community,” Kainth said.

The student praised Mount Royal’s interest in helping young students’ businesses gain momentum.

“Launchpad has really helped us. First of all, the capital is huge, it’s going to take us places that we couldn’t go otherwise without the capital,” Kainth said.

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