Asper’s own Dragons’ Den: the CPHR Entrepreneurship Pitch Competition
Hundreds of students pitch business plans in dynamic experiential learning competition hosted by the Stu Clark Centre for Entrepreneurship
In Asper School of Business entrepreneurship courses, students take to the stage for their final assessment, participating in a pitch competition that fills the Drake Centre with students, judges, and never-before-seen business ideas.
All students deliver a pitch in the first round of competition. Photo by Adam Dolman.
Hosted by the Stu Clark Centre for Entrepreneurship, the CPHR Entrepreneurship Pitch Competition takes place twice a year, giving over 800 students the chance to take the plunge and make a pitch. The competition provides students from across the University of Manitoba with an opportunity to work together to learn the fine art of business creation.
Over 400 students participated in this instalment of the CPHR Entrepreneurship Pitch Competition. Photo by Adam Dolman.
The Winter 2025 competition, generously sponsored by CPHR Manitoba, took place last month, bringing together over 400 students—from Asper (ENTR 2030), and from a variety of other faculties (ENTR 2020), including science, engineering, arts, agriculture, kinesiology and recreational management—to test their creative thinking and sharpen their presentation skills.
Building confidence, gaining perspective through unique student experiences
Asper student Avery Penner participated in the competition this year and highlights the value of the course from day one of syllabus review to the big presentation day.
“I think the biggest skill I learned from this process was just the openness to new ideas and discovering things around me that I wouldn’t have anticipated or expected before. And just diving into those ideas,” said Penner.
Students receive feedback from industry judges and entrepreneurs. Photo by Adam Dolman.
Students spend the first eight weeks of class learning the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and devising their own innovative ventures—apps to help young professionals better access the gig economy, cutting-edge recycling products and programing, and anything else they can dream up and research in a small group.
Penner, who hopes to pursue a career in marketing, notes that the course is applicable whether or not students see entrepreneurship as their primary career path.
“I believe that entrepreneurship really brings the side of creativity to marketing skills and the ability to think outside the box,” she said.
Fellow student Sarah Simcoe echoes this sentiment, noting that the biggest skill she gained from the course was a broader perspective. “It would probably be being able to look at the situations around me and see opportunities rather than having a closed outlook,” she said.
Fostering a strong future for Canadian entrepreneurship
One of the course instructors, and a serial entrepreneur himself, Matt Schaubroeck [MBA/15] works with entrepreneurs every day at his firm Leverage Point Consulting. He highlights the applicability of this type of communication to any career path.
“Learning how to communicate in this type of environment, it is a lot of pressure,” he acknowledges, “but it is something that you will use over and over again in your life.”
Since Fall 2019, the CPHR Pitch Competition has sought to inspire entrepreneurial spirit in all students, those who will start multiple ventures in their career, and those who will continue down career paths in business, science, arts, and more.
Junyon Im celebrates with students on stage. Photo by Adam Dolman.
Course instructor and Assistant Professor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Junyon Im shares what he hopes students learn in through this experience:
“One thing I want to emphasize to my students is that every student has the potential to become an entrepreneur by having the right mindset, by developing new ideas, and more importantly, by focusing on actions.”
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The Asper School of Business is a hub for entrepreneurial mindset and expertise, offering unique courses, valuable resources, and unmatched connectivity to Manitoba’s entrepreneurial ecosystem in both the Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) entrepreneurship major and an entrepreneurship-themed MBA.
Learn more about entrepreneurship resources—one-on-one startup coaching, access to competitions around the world, expert webinars, and more—by connecting with the Stu Clark Centre for Entrepreneurship today.