In The News

Vincent Cheung and Wenfei Yu, business partners and University of Toronto students, were recently awarded $25,000 from the IBK Capital-Ivey Business Plan Competition in recognition of their business plan for their company Shape Collage. Shape College uses advanced technology to help users create collages from photos. As reported by the National Post, competitions for emerging entrepreneurs have become ubiquitous across Canada with positive results for the Canadian economy. Besides the possibility of monetary winnings the participants at these events receive usefull feedback from industry experts, access to important resources and the chance to network.

"When Vincent Cheung and Wenfei Yu entered the IBK Capital-Ivey Business Plan Competition last month, they had no idea of the total cash prize they would receive if they won. The entrepreneurs, both students at the University of Toronto, viewed the competition as an opportunity to network, meet experts, and promote their new business, Shape Collage, which provides users with cutting-edge technology to create collages from photos."

"Yet, the pair won the top prize that comes with $25,000 along with of the recognition."

"For us, these competitions are about much more than the cash prizes," says Vincent Cheung, founder of Shape Collage."

"He says he and his business partner enter local business competitions simply to get feedback from judges and fellow entrepreneurs".

"We don't have a significant business background so we go to these competitions to go through the process of writing the business plan and pitching to investors and other entrepreneurs to get their feedback," Mr. Cheung says."

"The judges come from a variety of backgrounds and their job is to poke holes in your business plan," he says."

"In the several competitions we've gone to, we've presented to about 55 investors and entrepreneurs. What other opportunity to get to go in front of a panel, get their feedback? They want to see students succeed, so it's fantastic."

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original source the National Post