Undergraduate Business Plan Competition
Test your entrepreneurial talents against some of the best and the brightest teams from across North America, gain valuable experience by creating and defending a business plan in front of a tough panel of judges, and network with the rising stars and aspiring entrepreneurs.
About Our Competition
Business Plan Competitions are a great opportunity for students to test their venture ideas with experienced entrepreneurs, meeting potential investors and raise funding.
The Ivey Business School will host entrepreneurial undergraduate teams from across North America for the Morrissette Entrepreneurship Business Plan Competition. With a prize pool of over $20,000, the competition is open to undergraduate teams from universities across Canada & the United States and will include a stellar panel of experienced investors and entrepreneurs.
The winning team will receive $15,000 and prizes will also be awarded to the 2nd and 3rd placed teams, as well as the Pembroke Management Prize in Social Enterprise. The Morrissette Entrepreneurship Business Plan Competition began in 2016 with the support by Spin Master Toys, which was founded by Ivey & Western graduates Ronnen Harary, Anton Rabie, HBA ’94, and Ben Varadi, HBA ’94.
The competition is open to all undergraduate students from all disciplines.
Application Process:
- Complete our Intent to Compete Form
- Submit a 2-page Executive Summary of Business Plan to iveybpc@gmail.com prior to the November deadline.
Teams chosen for the competition will need to provide a completed business plan a week prior to the competition. For more details on the format, read the Competition Rules.
Important Dates & Deadlines:
Intent to Compete: November 12, 2021
Executive Summary: November 12, 2021 by 12.00 pm
Business Plan Due: January 17, 2022
Competition Weekend: January 21-22, 2022
For more information, please contact Shanthal Perera at sperera@ivey.ca
Mentum won the top prize of $15,000 at the Ivey HBA Business Plan Competition. Formed in May 2020, Mentum is a B2B Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company that amalgamates delivery platforms and provides restaurants their own white-label digital ordering solution. Mentum is currently used in over 60 restaurants across Canada and has raised significant pre-seed capital. The team comprised of Ivey HBA candidates Joshua Gao, Kyle Dayton, Shikhar Maheshwari, Cole Moorcroft and Michael Lakkotrypis.
The 2021 Competition was held virtually due to the ongoing pandemic.
Team EarthSuds from Wilfrid Laurier University, took first place at the Ivey HBA Business Plan Competition. Represented at the competition by Daniel Moll and Marissa Vettoretti, EarthSuds is a sustainable shower products company offering alternatives to the plastic toiletry containers used in hotels.
BRITE bites from Michigan State University won $15,000 at the 3rd Ivey HBA Business Plan Competition.
BRITE bites is an all-natural probiotic snack company headed by Bri Makaric, which currently offers three flavors of bites packed with superfoods and a probiotic that contains 1 billion CFUs (colony-forming unit) to support digestive and immune systems.
Team Impedix and RollUP Solutions Inc., from the Ivey Business School shared the first-place prize at the Spin Master – Ivey HBA Business Plan Competition on January 19-20, 2018. With the judges unable to separate the strong contestants, both teams were awarded $9,500.
Team Iris Technologies from Queen’s University won $15,000 and first place at the inaugural Spin Master – Ivey HBA Business Plan Competition, held January 20-21, 2017. Ivey’s first undergraduate business plan competition was sponsored by Spin Master Ltd. and the Pierre L. Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship.
Iris Technologies is developing a computer monitor that does not trigger computer intolerance in concussion patients. Stimuli from computers, such as light and noise, can often trigger concussion symptoms. The team was represented by Colin Harding and Conor Ross.
When you come to the IBK Capital – Ivey Business Plan Competition, you’ll have a chance to network with some of Canada’s most successful entrepreneurs. A large part of our success can be attributed to this elite group of experienced judges, many of who are successful serial entrepreneurs and mentors.
Our 2014 panel of judges included:
Albert Behr, President & CEO, Behr & Associates
Andrew Campbell, President (retired), ACAI Consulting
Howie Chan, HBA '12, Business Analyst, Tech Alliance
Dennis Ensing, Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Tech Alliance
Stephen Gunn, MBA '81, Co-founder, Chairman & CEO, Sleep Country Canada
Ian Haase, MBA '10, Vice President, Tech Alliance
Paul Hayman, HBA '81, Executive Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Ivey Business School
Daniel Kaute, President & CEO, Environmental Waste International
Sarah Landstreet, MBA '13, Owner, Georgette Packaging
Rajah Lehal, LLBMB '06, Lawyer, Cobalt Business Counsel
Justin Leushner, MBA '03, Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Tech Alliance
Jacoline Loewen, Director, Crosbie & Company Inc.
John Pollock, Director, BizInc
Kevin Ronson, Vice President of Finance and Operations, Voices.com
John Rothschild, MBA '73, Chairman & CEO, Prime Restuarants Inc.
Colleen Sharen, MBA '93, Professor, Brescia University College
Steve Suske, MBA '77, President & CEO, Suske Capital Management
Deniz Temelli, MBA '12, Business Analyst, Tech Alliance
Miranda Werstiuk, Senior Vice-President, IBK Capital Corp.
Michael White, MBA '00, President & CEO, IBK Capital Corp.
The competition was supported by our title sponsor IBK Capital Corp., the Pierre L. Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship and the Ivey MBA Association.
