The TD Entrepreneurship Challenge has been a flagship event in the Enactus calendar since 2007 that empowers Enactus teams to identify, create, and deliver projects that teach relevant entrepreneurship skills to empower aspiring and existing entrepreneurs!
Meet the 7 Enactus teams set to compete to be named the TD Entrepreneurship Challenge National Champion!
Enactus Dalhousie University created the New Venture Marketplace to help break down socio-economic barriers many newcomers face when starting a business. The team hosts a marketplace at key times throughout the year and provides these new entrepreneurs with the platform and opportunity to showcase their business, free of charge. In the last year alone, the team has helped start 12 businesses, exposed 165 people to entrepreneurship, and directly impacted the lives of 125 entrepreneurs in their community.
The team from Enactus Saint Mary’s University created Options Online with the goal of providing free, entrepreneurial education to at-risk youth through a series of learn-at-your-own-pace online workshops. The program currently has 23 youth enrolled in their Professional Development Series.
Enactus Toronto Metropolitan University created The Shepreneur Project – an international female entrepreneurship bootcamp that helps address the needs of vulnerable women who are often overlooked as successful entrepreneurs. The bootcamp teaches the basics of entrepreneurship including financial literacy, customer acquisition, marketing, and more! In 2022, the team helped start 35 businesses, exposed 200 people to entrepreneurship, and helped 67 entrepreneurs better their business.
The team from Enactus Durham College started Project Founders Drive, which helps student entrepreneurs realize their dreams in operating a successful start up through a series of podcasts and business opportunities. The team created 18 jobs, helped young people start seven businesses, and exposed 780 people to entrepreneurship through collaborations with RBC Future Launch, Cooperative Education and Work-Integrated Learning Canada, and the Venture Development Institute.
Enactus Fleming College created Paddy Waste to Income to help farmers in Punjab and Uttarakhand, India turn rice paddy waste into opportunity. Once traditionally burned (resulting in air pollution and GHG emissions), this paddy waste is turned into feed for cattle, protecting crops, and providing bedding in dairy farms. This year alone, Enactus Fleming College has helped 21 entrepreneurs repurpose waste.
SpeechDojo from the students at Enactus University of Alberta is a charity initiative that eliminates financial barriers faced by students to ensure that all students have access to the skills necessary to succeed in entrepreneurship. Their asynchronous online workshop and synchronous classroom series focuses on public speaking, presentation techniques, mock debates and job searching. SpeechDojo has exposed 808 students to entrepreneurship through their programming this year alone.
Enactus University of British Columbia – Vancouver students created Ennovate after noticing a lack of hands-on entrepreneurial learning amongst high school students. A program designed to empower these students, Ennovate allows students to create their own mini-social enterprise through three foundational pillars: ideation, creation, and competition. This past year, Ennovate has helped start 44 businesses, and exposed 1,000 people to entrepreneurship as a viable career path.