A student entrepreneur who is leveraging the sharing economy to help creatives connect with underused photography and video equipment took home the biggest slice of the pie this week at Mount Royal University's JMH LaunchPad Competition.
Tarandeep Singh Kainth, pitching his company Sharyeo, was awarded $35,000 as seven student entrepreneurs took to the stage in front of 350 people on April 3 for a share of $80,000 in startup funds. Hosted by Mount Royal's Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IIE), the JMH LaunchPad Pitch Competition is in its seventh year of helping young entrepreneurs take flight. Kainth also won the Entrepreneurs Organization's Calgary Student Entrepreneur of the Year award in November.
Currently studying as a third year business administration student, Kainth is working towards a general management major with an entrepreneurship concentration. Originally from Montreal, he speaks five languages and has been in Calgary for 10 years.
Sharyeo is a safe and easy to use platform where photographers, videographers and DJ's can rent and lend equipment to one another. To provide peace of mind, users are fully verified and have access to insurance. Kainth says he is ready to launch this summer with 200 early adopters offering 500 different items.
"We offer a seamless experience online. You are able to browse items, communicate with the lender and we also offer delivery. We're an end to end service: our process takes two or three minutes," said Kainth, who hopes to expand to larger markets in Vancouver and Toronto.
The sold-out Dragons' Den-style event saw the entrepreneurs strut their stuff in front of an esteemed panel of judges and a supportive audience of over 300. In addition to Kainth, four other student entrepreneurs were provided at least $10,000 in funding to take their businesses to the next level. Arielle Fitzgerald and her co-founders from Mooch were thrilled with the $15,000 they were awarded.
"When we realized that 52 per cent of nursing mothers were having a problem with the quantity and quality of their milk, we knew we had to act," said Fitzgerald who is a licensed holistic nutritionist and a health and physical education student. Mooch provides healthy snacks that encourage milk production in lactating mothers.
Ray DePaul, director of the IIE and the Calgary Chamber of Commerce's Innovator in Residence says the process helps turn great ideas into reality.
"Our students consistently tell us that the mentorship and funding they receive to keep (their business) moving forward results in a transformative learning experience. That is what it's all about," says DePaul, himself an entrepreneur who sold a company to Intel and was a key member of the team that brought BlackBerry to the world.
The 2019 JMH LaunchPad is generously supported by JMH & Co., LaBarge Weinstein LLP and Bridgewater Labs.
