Safiya Khaki delivered the winning pitch on a business idea for plant-fibre drinking straws, which are both biodegradable and strong enough not to disintegrate while drinking. She presented the idea to a panel of local business professionals as one of five finalists from Fleming College and Trent University. Her Best Pitch title came with a $2000 cash prize.

Pitch IT! is an entrepreneurial competition where students pitch a business idea to a panel of judges from the entrepreneurship community in hopes of taking home a cash prize. The event was held at the Trent Student Centre as part of the FastStart program, which is delivered through the Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation Centre (ESIC) at Trent. The FastStart program helps emerging entrepreneurs develop their business plans and bring their products and services to market.

Entrepreneurship at Trent

ESIC is the hub for entrepreneurship at Trent, providing events, education, support, and programming to students and faculty to build capacity and develop skills related to entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial activities.

“We know students want to develop skills related to entrepreneurship. Through programs like FastStart, and sponsorship of events like Pitch IT!, ESIC helps provide the tools to go out and have success as an entrepreneur,” said Christopher Rooney, director of ESIC.

Students or faculty with a business idea can visit ESIC, whose office is on the main floor of Bata Library, on Wednesday afternoons to set up a confidential meeting to discuss their business idea, and how best to develop it. Depending on the type of business proposed—maybe an app, a method developed in a lab, a store to open downtown—ESIC can help students and faculty identify and access the resources they need to make their business a success.