RBC Rock My Business Start-up Awards 2023
BIG news for aspiring small business owners: You could receive $10,000 to help launch your startup!
Futurpreneur and RBC proudly present the RBC Rock My Business Start-up Awards: Eight awards of $10k each given annually to diverse, young, aspiring entrepreneurs from across Canada, helping kickstart their businesses.
Imagine what $10K could mean for your startup? It could help you develop a website, order supplies, activate your marketing plan, purchase inventory…take it to the next level!
Apply for the Rock My Business Start-up Awards and you could receive one of eight $10K cash awards in addition to promotion for you and your brand through both Futurpreneur and RBC as one of our award recipients.
Award Details
Supported by RBC, the following eight awards of $10,000 each will be given to eligible participants from across Canada:
- Five Youth Entrepreneur Awards for entrepreneurs aged 18 – 29
- One Emerging Black Entrepreneur Award for a Black entrepreneur aged 18 – 39
- One Emerging Indigenous Entrepreneur Award for an Indigenous entrepreneur aged 18 – 39
- One Emerging Entrepreneur Award for an entrepreneur aged 30 – 39
How to Apply
- Check that you meet the eligibility requirements.
- Attend BOTH the Rock My Business Plan and Rock My Cash Flow workshops during any of six sessions offered between July 1, 2022 and May 31, 2023. Delivered by Futurpreneur, these free, digital workshops teach you the essentials of developing a solid business plan and cash flow statement.
- Watch the recording of the How to Apply to the RBC Rock My Business Start-up Awards information session here.
- Prepare, refine and submit to Futurpreneur your completed business plan and cash flow statement, along with the application form, by June 9, 2023. In addition, the application form will be shared via email with eligible applicants in March 2023. Please note that the RBC Focused Business Plan and Cash Flow template are NOT the same as the Futurpreneur templates. If you are eligible for the Award, and have not received the templates via email, please email programs@futurpreneur.ca.
- A diverse panel of RBC business experts will review all entries and select the recipients.
- Recipients will be announced in early September 2023!
Eligibility requirements
To be considered for the awards, please ensure you meet all the following eligibility requirements:
- Between 18 – 39 years of age.*
- Canadian citizen or permanent resident.
- Successful completion of BOTH the Rock My Business Plan and Rock My Cash Flow workshops between July 1, 2022 and May 31, 2023.
- Successful submission of a completed business plan and cash flow statement by June 9, 2023 (following the guidelines and templates provided in the How to Apply to the RBC Rock my Business Start-up Awards information session). Please note that the Business Plan and Cash Flow template for the Award submission is NOT the same as the Futurpreneur template. Applications received in the wrong template will not be reviewed.
- Cannot use the award to repay existing debt; must highlight how the award will be applied to startup costs.
- Have not received a Futurpreneur Canada startup loan before June 9, 2022.
- Open to pre-launch businesses (pre-revenue) and part-time or “side hustle” businesses (a business to which you devote fewer than 30 hours a week and from which you earn less than $20k in sales per year); those operating a full-time business prior to June 9, 2022 are not eligible.
- Ineligible businesses include those operating in the following sectors: tobacco, cannabis, gambling, gaming, firearms.
*Applicant must be within the age bracket for the award on September 5, 2023. For the Youth Entrepreneur Awards, applicant must be between 18 – 29 years of age.
APPLY NOW!
Meet the 2022 RBC Rock My Business Start-up Award Recipients!
Marie-Renée Grondin
Emerging Entrepreneur Award
Timininous – Quebec
Timininous is a Quebec-based company that designs and manufactures merino wool thermal clothing and accessories for infants and toddlers so they can keep warm while joining their families on winter adventures. Merino wool is a sustainably-sourced renewable fibre that is also biodegradable. Founder Marie-Renée Grondin’s mission is to promote a more sustainable and socially-conscious shopping approach by creating products that are durable and multifunctional, allowing families to buy less, but invest in higher quality.
Benjamin Feagin
Emerging Indigenous Entrepreneur Award
AgriTech North – Ontario
AgriTech North is a first-of-its-kind, indoor vertical farm in Northwestern Ontario, growing fresh produce year-round at wholesale capacity. The company addresses rising food insecurity and environmental challenges by utilizing innovative hydroponic and aeroponic technology in a soil-less environment that also uses 90% less water, and no chemical pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides. Their social mission is to reduce fresh produce costs in Far North Indigenous communities by 25% and simultaneously increase its availability in communities without year-round access.
Murielle Bien-Aimé
Emerging Black Entrepreneur Award
KOMANDŌ – Quebec
Based in Montreal, KOMANDŌ is a clothing company that creates stylish and eco-friendly underwear for anyone who identifies as a woman, as well as a range of gender-neutral streetwear attire designed to empower individuals and encourage them to be themselves freely and fully.
Elisabeth Turcotte
Youth Entrepreneur Award
Déniche Ton Chien – Quebec
Déniche Ton Chien is a pet-pairing app that can be compared to the Tinder dating site. To help match adopters with their ideal pet, the app provides details about the top three dog breeds most compatible with their personality and lifestyle. An AI algorithm filters the database of more 110 dog breeds available in Quebec to recommend the top three that align the adopter’s wants and needs. The client can also learn more about the different breeds and understand their needs and personality traits before making a commitment to adopt.
Marie-Ève Aubry
Youth Entrepreneur Award
Albéric – Quebec
Albéric is a clothing brand that helps consumers creatively build a conscious and modern wardrobe where each piece is meaningful and serves a purpose. The designer’s ethos focuses on responsible design and manufacturing practices to minimize her production’s impact on the planet and small communities. By implementing a non-traditional pre-order model, the company is able to promote all aspects of the circular economy and ensure that every piece is unique and feels like a limited edition.
Lital Zaslavsky
Youth Entrepreneur Award
Something Better – Ontario
Something Better is a company dedicated to reinventing the children’s healthy snack category. Most of commercial children’s snacks simply aren’t made with kids in mind. The nutritious snacks bore them, and the confectionary snacks don’t nourish them. Dry granola bars may not compromise for an indulgent brownie and parents don’t feel comfortable feeding their kids indulgent brownies every day either. So Lital and Daniel are launching Something Better to bridge that divide, and make a delicious snack kids love, with a nutritional profile parents will cherish. They are currently formulating their first product with plans of officially launching by the end of 2022.
Thomas Clark
Youth Entrepreneur Award
Altrene – Ontario
Altrene offers a truly sustainable skincare line called “Insekt”. Its products are crafted with sustainably sourced insect-derived extracts among other natural ingredients, creating a unique formulation with exceptional skin and environmental benefits. Operating as an online store through its website and other third-party platforms, Altrene offers, at launch; a Face Cleanser, Face Moisturizer and Face Oil. Beyond personal care, Insekt promotes sustainable, cleaner business practices that contribute to a circular economy and the preservation of our planet.
Will Wang
Youth Entrepreneur Award
Terra Optima Labs Inc. – Ontario
Terra Optima Labs Inc. strives to create circularity in the food industry by converting food wastes to soil, to grow more food, sustainably. Their objectives are to reduce negative environmental impacts from soil degradation, ease food insecurity, and address the enormous amount of food waste that Canada generates per year. Terra Optima is developing and testing technologies that leverage natural organisms and technology to transform food and organic wastes into soil amendment blends that increase crop yields, restore soil vitality, and sequester carbon. These processes are odourless, efficient, and integrate directly within supply chains and create valuable products for agriculture and soil remediation.
