MHC business students pitch their best ideas

By Tim Kalinowski on December 9, 2017.

tkalinowski@medicinehatnews.com @MHNTimKal

Medicine Hat College business management students in the Entrepreneurial Experience class got an opportunity to feel all the pressure and adrenaline rush of a real Dragon’s Den-style pitch competition Friday at the Cultural Centre.

As course instructor Miranda Davies explained, her students were playing for high stakes with their pitches.

“No grades went out this semester until today,” said Davies. “They have five minutes for 50 per cent of their grade; so there is definitely something on the line here today. Months and months of preparation went into this. Working on marketing plans, interviewing customers, looking at competitors, developing their prototypes and making three other practice pitches. This is their fourth and final pitch.”

Student Jordan Pomrenke was pitching his group’s idea for a monthly help package for women going through menstruation called “Aurora.” He was looking forward to making his case to the judges for taking home some prize money ($525 provided by ATB Financial for the best pitch of the day).

“We picked an idea we thought had potential, and we were then able to just dive in and learn at what we need to operate the business,” he said. “It is definitely a good experience to learn and get feedback from the judges, and potentially it could be a real business one day.”

A group made up of students Cassy Harris, Isaac Hintze, Leo Li Mengze and Gagandeep Singh calling themselves Vello Clothing took their presentation to a whole new level, by actually demonstrating how to put on their product, accessible pants for people with mobility issues, on stage for the panel of judges. Isaac Hintze volunteered to be the model for the group.

“Actually putting the pants on during the presentation was something our professor suggested,” said Hintze with a chuckle. “I am just glad I didn’t put on the heart boxers today.”

Team mate Cassy Harris said the pitch, while nerve-wracking, was a great learning experience for her whole group.

“It is an amazing experience to be able to do something like this,” she said “I feel like we succeeded in catching the judge’s attention, and we have a product that might be able to actually be developed.”

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