To help grow the ongoing innovation and creativity of StFX students, StFX Innovation and Enterprise Centre’s DiscoverBox has awarded six students Xaverian Innovation and Entrepreneurs Micro-Grants of $2,500 each for the winter term of 2021.
The grants will help the students run their respective businesses. Recipients include Amy Graham and Patti-Anne Tracey, Tania Tesson, Mbungeni (Bo) Ndlovu, Richard Grant and Grace Kaiser.
“Now, more than ever, we need to foster the entrepreneurial spirit on campus and provide students with the opportunity to start and grow projects that address community-focused solutions,” says Paula Brophy, Coordinator, StFX Innovation & Enterprise Centre.
She says the students will be guided by the centre’s DiscoverBox initiative through problem definition to ideation, business development, testing and exploring market entry, providing the students with foundational skills to apply to their business.
DiscoverBox is a NS Sandbox located at StFX and is funded by Labour and Advanced Education – Government of Nova Scotia.
To be eligible for this award, applicants had to submit an essay and outline of their business, be a full-time StFX student, attend a two-day training program, and commit 150 hours of work toward the project.
All work must be done remotely, including virtual meetings with DiscoverBox staff, and should involve a faculty mentor.
During a special session this April, the students will pitch their ideas and progress of their projects to a virtual audience of fellow recipients, business owners and StFX faculty and staff, helping them become more comfortable pitching their ideas in a clear and concise manner and providing them with an opportunity to reflect on their work.
The projects include:
Amy Graham and Patti-Anne Tracey – “Team in SVP,” or Together Everyone Achieves More in Sexual Violence Prevention
This past summer, Amy Graham and Patti-Anne Tracey received support from the Wallace Family Entrepreneurship Fund and created an educational training platform about sexual violence in athletics. Their website titled "Team in SVP," Together Everyone Achieves More in Sexual Violence Prevention, provides sexual violence prevention materials, resources, and two-and-a-half hours of interactive training workshops for coaches and Canadian sport organizations. They continue to build, enhance, and professionalize their website, encouraging all involved in Canadian sport to "be better and do better" when it comes to preventing sexual violence. The work they will complete over the next few months involves networking, professionalizing the content, and consumer feedback. They plan to create a questionnaire for coaches to complete before and after they review their "Team in SVP" training modules. The data collected from their questionnaire will provide them with valuable information regarding whether their educational resources fit the design of coaches in meeting the commitment to prevent sexual violence in sport. This information will be useful to them in determining what must be done in the sporting culture to create a safer and equitable environment.
Tania Tesson – Naturally Me
Tania Tesson has started Naturally Me masks. “To support Naturally Me is to show appreciation and proper respect to another culture of our world. I believe that experiencing cultures through food, travel and fashion makes us more connected,” she says. “I find that there is something about history through clothes that can be shared and explored to transform cultural appropriation into cultural appreciation. Today, I have decided to express that through clothing and starting with the Naturally Me masks. The masks are made of European fabric and African fabric to bring a piece of our history as humans collective from west Africa. The goal, however, is not just African culture but all cultures. Future iterations could be Indian African or Caribbean-Japanese inspired clothing.”
Mbungeni Ndlovu – OlyUp Technologies Inc
The primary goals of Mbungeni (Bo) Ndlovu’s project are to make a software product that strength and conditioning coaches can use to make it more convenient for them to produce training programs and monitor the health and performance of their athletes; to improve the athletic performance of athletes in their respective sports and positions; and to reduce athletic injuries. For a previous story about Bo and his project, please click here.
Richard Grant – LIVEN
Richard Grant says LIVEN will be Canadas first single serve protein kefir, a delicious digestive supporting, post-workout, fermented protein beverage with no added sugar, made with locally produced organic milk, "LIVEN UP YOUR DIET.” “As of now, there is a fragmented, yet still emerging probiotic market dominated by kombucha, normal milk kefir and yogurt. The issue with the current products is they are either bland tasting, not as healthy as they claim, loaded with a significant amount of sugar or artificial flavoring and, no brands have attempted to capitalize on the implications of this product segment on the fitness industry. We believe there's a huge opportunity for innovation and success here,” he says. “Our solution to this problem is a new variation of probiotic, branded as "Liven." Liven is made from fermented milk kefir and whey protein. This drink contains the probiotic power and health benefits from milk kefir, which range from digestive support, brain health, immune system support, skin health, bone health, and now muscle recovery with the addition of high-quality whey protein. It is our goal to eliminate the stigma of bland tasting probiotic drinks and target a range of potential consumers by providing our consumers with a tasty, organic beverage that also offers a significant macronutrient profile to create a true ‘first-of-its-kind-product.’”
Grace Kaiser – College St.
College St. is a student-run clothing company based in Antigonish geared towards promoting art culture in the community as well as around the StFX campus. The foundation of the business started with promoting art made by students for students to alleviate difficulty of finding art culture in Antigonish. College St. is proud to incorporate art from locals in the Antigonish community as well as that of students, allowing said students and others to express themselves and appreciate accessible community art. All products are designed and created in Antigonish by a team of student employees who love supporting local!
