Team Plentiful may not have won the recent IBK Capital-Ivey Business Plan Competition, but they did walk away with valuable learnings and the confidence to carry on. The plan, called Plentiful, was pitched by teammates and MBA ’18 candidates, Ashley Amir and Gavin Nicholl.
Plentiful is a “single-serving solution, to be used in smoothies and other food products, with targeted and optimal blends of superfoods tailored to meet the varying health needs of consumers.”
“For us, the Business Plan Competition was an important step in the process of starting our business,” said Nicholl. Starting out as an MBA project, the two have taken Plentiful to the Western Accelerator where they are dedicating four months to furthering their idea.
“The competition was an opportunity to pitch Plentiful to an external audience for the first time and see what kind of response we got,” he said.
Related to this story
Still early on in planning, Amir said the two were able to take feedback and apply it to their pitch right away. “We were way further behind than a lot of the teams but we came out of it affirming that we are on the right track and now have a better understanding of our goals moving forward.”
Through feedback from judges and competition guests, and a workshop by Albert Behr from Behr & Associates, Team Plentiful gained clarity on their position in the global market, their strategy and confirmed they were working on something that consumers want.
“Even though we didn’t make it to the final round, we were able to pitch our idea to people from industry who spoke positively about our plan and the direction we’re taking,” said Nicholl.
About IBK Capital – Ivey Business Plan Competition
The annual IBK Capital - Ivey Business Plan Competition which took place January 19-20, 2018 at Ivey Business School, draws entrepreneurial teams from universities throughout North America and beyond. The competition, organized by the Pierre L. Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship, offers graduate students the opportunity to present innovative new ventures to potential investors. At the same time, investors have a chance to get a close up look at up-and-coming entrepreneurs. The competition is sponsored by IBK Capital Corp., and led by President and CEO Michael White, MBA ’00.
The competition is funded by private sponsorship. Hello Prosper received $15,000 for securing first place. The second place team, Lapovations, LLC, from the University of Arkansas, received $4,000 and third place team WeavAir, from the University of Toronto, received $1,000.
