Canadian Youth Business Foundation Announces YOU Innovate Canada Tournament National Champion

Canadian Youth Business Foundation Announces YOU Innovate Canada Tournament National Champion

Tournament held in celebration of Global Entrepreneurship Week Canada tasked Canadians to create new value out of an ordinary coffee cup

Toronto, ON – November 21, 2011 – Today the Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF) announced that four students from Brandon University in Manitoba – Stephanie Fung, Jeanette Hudon, Stephen Chychota and Kayvon Razzaghi – have been selected as the national champions of the YOU Innovate  Canada tournament held in celebration of Global Entrepreneurship Week. Their team, The Grow Mug Project, was selected as the national champion from among the 13 regional champions. The team will receive a total cash award of $5,500, a trip to Liverpool, England to attend the Global Entrepreneurship Congress, and the title of “Most Innovative Mind in Canada.”

The Grow Mug Project team used personalized recycled mugs to grow herbs and teach children about plants and healthy eating. The thirteen regional champions in the post-secondary and community categories across Canada were selected for their unique and creative ideas, sharing a total of $25,000 in cash awards generously provided Studentawards.com.

CYBF organized YOU Innovate Canada in celebration of Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW), November 14-20, 2011, to demonstrate that the spark of a great business idea comes from looking at things in different ways. The national tournament challenged Canadians, 16 years and older, to think like entrepreneurs by creating new value out of an ordinary everyday object: a coffee cup. Participants submitted videos to explain the value they created and champions were selected through online voting and expert regional and national judging panels.

“The YOU Innovate tournament encouraged Canadians to engage with, connect to and see the value of entrepreneurship in their everyday lives,” explains Vivian Prokop, chief executive officer, Canadian Youth Business Foundation. “The extraordinary creativity of the tournament champions is a true demonstration of the inspiring young minds who will soon be driving Canada’s future.”

Suzanne Tyson is the President of Studentawards Inc., lead sponsor for YOU Innovate Canada. “Being resourceful and having the ability to create value for someone else is critical no matter what field you work in,” she says. “We are pleased to work alongside CYBF to offer students and others the chance to think in a creative and innovative way through YOU Innovate Canada.”

Earlier in the week, the following regional champions from across Canada were announced in post-secondary and community categories

  • Alberta: Boja (Breana Baker, Adam Holloway, Josh Holloway, Olivia Bohdan) and Something Awesome (Kendra Wannamaker, Nicolette Bell, Kyler Marshel, Connor Dyck_
  • Atlantic: Party ‘Rock’ers (Toni Kearney, Maurice Lewis, Sarah Bromley, Dereck Gardiner) and Strivers (Brittany Bernard)
  • British Columbia: Titans (Natalie Lo, Grace Lam, Cynthia Deng) and Salamy Innovations (Salima Hirji, Amy Berard, Iman Shariff)
  • Manitoba: The Breakers (Injeong Yang, Mica Rosier, Catherine Le) and The Grow Mug Project (Stephanie Fung, Jeanette Hudon, Stephen Chychota, Kayvon Razzaghi)
  • Ontario: EL3MENT (Matthew Levstek, Nikita Fodtchouk, Paul Capparelli) and C.Bean (Vickie Vainionpaa)
  • Quebec: CLD de Sagunay (Langis Lavoie, Annie-Claude Laflamme, Annie Hudon, Sophie Bouchard) and Favel Innovation (Yves-Gabriel Leboeuf)
  • Saskatchewan: StopandThink (Kehan Fu, Surath Gomis, Josh Heinrichs)

CYBF launched YOU Innovate Canada with the support of founding partner, Mount Royal University, lead sponsor, Studentawards.com, ReviewRoom and the Government of Alberta and are grateful for their support.

To view videos submitted by YOU Innovate participants across Canada, click here.

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About The Canadian Youth Business Foundation – Canada’s Entrepreneur Gateway

The Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF) is the ‘go to’ place for youth entrepreneurship. As a national charity, we are dedicated to growing Canada’s economy one young entrepreneur at a time. We look at character, not collateral, when providing youth, age 18-34, with pre-launch coaching, business resources, start-up financing and mentoring. We help them launch and sustain a successful entrepreneurial business. www.cybf.ca

About Global Entrepreneurship Week Canada

Between November 14-20, 2011, more than 100 countries will come together to celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW), a movement to inspire millions of people to embrace innovation, imagination and creativity. GEW Canada 2011 is hosted by the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, a national not-for-profit organization that works to connect hundreds of organizations to champion a culture of entrepreneurship and mentoring, through local, national and global initiatives. Visit www.gewcanada.com for more information.

CYBF Media Contact:

Rachel Azagury
Senior Manager, Marketing & Communications
Email: razagury@cybf.ca
Phone: 866-646-2922 x2111
Cell: 647-834-2923