News > 2011 > 2010 Entrepreneurship and Innovation Contest: Six Winners from the School

2010 Entrepreneurship and Innovation Contest: Six Winners from the School

January 4, 2011

At the annual award ceremony in late 2010, the Centre d’entrepreneurship HEC–POLY–UdeM and its partners saluted the quality and excellence of 11 new companies, six of them founded by HEC Montréal students or alumni. Those six walked away with $58,500 of the $75,500 awarded in cash prizes and services.

Our six winning firms

This year, the grand prize winner was C Traiteur, specializing in crèmes brûlées, meringues and flavoured sugars. Its founder, Catherine Cafiti, holds a Certificate in entrepreneurship from HEC Montréal. She won a $15,000 award from BMO Groupe Financier, Jean-Pierre Chartrand/Novacap/Réseau Capital, Fondation du maire de Montréal pour la jeunesse and HEC Montréal, as well as two awards in the form of services from Lafortune Cadieux S.E.N.C.R.L. and RSM Richter Chamberland, amounting to $2,500.

Second prize went to another entrepreneur trained at HEC Montréal, Cyril Brouillard, for  his company Verbal Pixel. Cyril, who holds an MBA, won $10,000 in cash from Gestion Univalor and Jean-Pierre Chartrand/Novacap/Réseau Capital. His firm also won the “favourite” award of $2,000 in services from a previous winner, Gilles Barbot, of the Groupe Esprit de Corps.

iZiChem, a company that makes resins for preparing therapeutic peptides, won third prize, worth $7,500, from Bell, Jean-Pierre Chartrand/Novacap/Réseau Capital et Teralys Capital. The President of the company, Tarek Kassem, is completing his MBA at HEC Montréal. He received a special mention from BCF Avocats/Agents de brevets et de marques, which presented him with an award worth $5,000 in services.

The Pivot Santé team offers specialized health services revolving around physical activity for people age 50 and over, and consists of three kinesiologists: Laurent Teasdale, who holds a Certificat in entrepreneurship from HEC Montréal, Hélène Gascon and Wendyam M. Drabo. The firm received awards of $5,500 from Jean-Pierre Chartrand/Novacap/Réseau Capital, the Centre d’entrepreneurship HEC – Poly – U de M and the Université de Montréal. Pivot Santé also took the “favourite” award worth $4,500 in services, presented by previous winner NORDIC Design | Communication.

The MissResto.com website allows users to order takeout food on line from local restaurants. The initiative by young promoter Simon William Gaudreau, who holds a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from HEC Montréal, received $4,500 from Gestion Univalor and the Centre d’entrepreneurship HEC – Poly – U de M.

Lastly, Pascal Martineau, who also holds a BBA from HEC Montréal, received $2,000 from Jean-Pierre Chartrand/Novacap/Réseau Capital for his Marie-Prose, a multidisciplinary arts school for ages 10-17. A previous winner, VYV Corporation, offered him an additional prize of $1,000.

 

Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to the Centre d’entrepreneurship HEC – Poly – U de M and its partners.