THUNDER BAY - Grade 10 student, Samantha Sawyer’s passion to end hunger has been rewarded with first place.
The Westgate student joined more than 120 of her peers from across Northwestern Ontario to compete in a two-day business pitch-off competition at Confederation College.
Putting their business skills and knowledge to the test, Sawyer and her group created a business idea called Community Basket, grocery stores located in low income areas to provide people with affordable food.
“The way it works is that we get contracts with big retail areas so they can give us donated goods, anything damaged or discounted that they no longer need,” she said.
Over the course of two days, the girls made a business plan and created a PowerPoint presentation showing areas with the greatest need.
“We thought this idea was really close to home. Some of us live out in the country where we don’t have grocery stores near us so we all became very passionate about ending hunger,” she said.
Head Start In Business program manager Cindy Reasbeck said Entreprise Olympics introduces students to entrepreneurship as a viable career option and provides lots of constructive experiences.
“The more positive experiences and the more introduction they have to entrepreneurship, they're more prepared out of secondary (school) to potentially take that next leap," she said.
The top team from each sector competed in a final competition, where each member of the winning team received a $1,000 grant for the post-secondary school of their choice in Northern Ontario.
“We want our young people to stay in Northern Ontario and know the potential opportunities in Northern Ontario around entrepreneurship so they can create their own career,” Reasbbeck said.
