Ten Budding Entrepreneurs Selected In Socially-Minded Business Contest

Project Wildfire , a Toronto-area competition for 19 to 29-year-old entrepreneurs, whittled down many potential applicants to 10 finalists this weekend. The participants had created ideas — ones that are profit-generating but with a social mandate — and marketed their proposal through a 90-second video clip, while harnessing their concept through social media to garner votes from the public. The finalists, chosen by a combination of public reaction and the Project Wildfire jury, now have six weeks to work with an experienced team of mentors to construct a solid business plan.

Project director Mike Brcic, himself an entrepreneur as the founder/executive director of Bikes Without Borders, believes in the contest as an illuminating package that helps combine business and charity. “We’ve seen the world of business as something that exists to make money and, for the most part, doesn’t do a lot of good in the world. It often does a lot of harm,” he said at the press conference June 6 at the Centre for Social Innovation. “And I do know that it’s possible to create a lot of good in the world and make money… The reason [Project Wildfire is] youth focused is because I believe a lot of [youths] are full of energy and passion and great ideas.”

On August 4, the entrepreneurs will pitch their completed proposal to the Project Wildfire jury. One group will walk off with a $25,000 grant to fund their idea, while four others will take a $2,500 consolation fund; regardless, all five recipients will get a full year of mentorship to help refine their business idea.

Samaritanmag spoke with several of the finalists, who discussed their ideas, their inspirations and future aspirations in helping to give back to the local and global community. The finalists and their projects include:

Nadia Hamilton – Clean Planet: 

  Inspired by her younger autistic brother, University of Toronto grad Hamilton hopes to create a cleaning business that employs people with autism, a community that is offered very few career options. She has volunteered to help local individuals at the Geneva Centre for Autism and wanted to contribute further. “I chose a cleaning company because it’s something that they can do that’s not stressful psychologically,” she told Samaritanmag. “A lot of people with autism don’t like to interact socially. It’s something that they can do and they can see right away the ramifications of their physical work.

Baby Handprint + Footprint Artwork Video

Versatile Invitation Design: Baby Shower Footprint

A baby\\\'s footprint says everything: the innocence, tenderness and charm of a newborn. These values come to mind of anyone who sees it. No wonder it is a favorite theme for occasions that call for such, like that of a baby shower. Here is a guide on how to use the baby\\\'s footprint in the baby shower invitation....

If you are like many peo0le easy to get stuck when the baby shower invitation. Find the location, the guest lists and buying a cake can seem easy compared to picking the right invitation. A baby shower invitation is the first impression that your guests have of the event. Therefore, it is important to convey a message through the baby shower invitation. A really fun and very popular way to do this using a footprint in the baby\\\'s invit ......

Unless you\'ve been living in a cave deep in the Amazon, you are surely aware of the problems of global warming that derives from all the pollution problems we, as a society have created. The pollution problems are more serious in some areas than others, but the fact remains that we have all contributed to it, and we are all leaving our carbon footprints in the wake....

As you\\\'re planning a baby shower, baby shower you may want some great graphics to use different things. First of all, you need to know what type of clip art are looking for. Since in this case, so if the baby shower thank you card or invitation, the clip, the need for baby shower clipart, so this is the type that you need to find the net. Clip art is about copying and pasting the existing drawings and photos are available on the net...

In May of 2006, Christie\\\'s auction house made a combined profit of $348 million by selling 57 pieces of art. It costed $50 million for a Mark Rothko\\\'s piece and $33 million for a Lucien Freud\\\'s work - and this man is still alive. It was the highest price ever paid for a living artist at the time. In 2008, another piece of Lucian, \\\"Big Sue\\\" painting was sold for $33.6 million....

Hi there you art lovers, now most people have good taste these days so it’s hard to get this wrong, especially if the art you choose fits in well with your home, i.e. the colours and the size of the canvas artwork you choose as you need to make sure that the piece you buy fits well on the wall and isn’t too big or too small...

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