Tea, beer and a shark lady (5 photos)

It was a blast for young, local entrepreneurs enrolled in Algoma University’s Bachelor of Business Administration program.

Thursday marked Algoma’s hosting of the 11th Annual Northern Ontario and Michigan Business Case Competition, held at The Water Tower Inn.

University level business students, from Algoma, Lakehead, Nipissing, Laurentian and Lake Superior State University were divided into groups to devise solutions to a business case presented to them by their professors.

It’s a final exam of sorts, with prizes awarded.

David Segal, Graham Sherman and Nicole Verkindt, hugely successful entrepreneurs with celebrity status in the business world, served as guest speakers and judges at Thursday’s event, on hand to give advice to the students throughout the day.

“Its stressful (coming up with a business solution and being judged on it) but it’s also super fun facing these challenges together with my teammates,” said Shannie Levesque, an Algoma University Bachelor of Business Administration student.

“I want to work for a consulting company or a public relations company, I would like to eventually have my own event planning  business…I’m graduating in a couple of weeks, and I’m excited to meet the judges today, along with a lot of super successful people from our own community,” Levesque told SooToday.

“If I can work for a consulting firm or any marketing department in the Sault, I would definitely stay and work in this city.”

“This is the first time I’ve done business case competition judging.  It’s really exciting to see young people with creative ideas, and the enthusiasm they bring to the table.  It’s been a great day,” said David Segal, known in the business world as founder of DAVIDsTEA.

“Nobody was doing it (selling tea) in a fun way…there are endless herbs and fruits and spices you can blend with, so with that, combined with a real modern fresh look and a young face, we were able to make it into something fun and youthful,” said Segal, 36, speaking of his own entrepreneurial experiences.

“The experience in our tea stores is very sensory, so you can smell and taste different teas,” Segal said.

There are approximately 220 DAVIDsTEA locations in Canada and the U.S., said Segal, who has now left the tea business and is currently developing his next entrepreneurial venture.

That involves a “fast, casual food space idea, stay tuned,” he told us with a grin.

“My advice to them (students gathered for the competition) would be not to take their ideas too seriously.  Some of those ideas might not work, but that doesn’t mean they’re a failure. I always say it took me 10 years to be an overnight success,” Segal said.

Graham Sherman was originally employed in the information technology sector, working as a civilian on projects for the Canadian Army in Afghanistan, before teaming up with a business partner to establish the successful Tool Shed Brewery.  

“It was a good job, but you got shot at, there were kidnapping attempts and bombs going off, we had a lot of real terrible scenarios over there in Afghanistan…I had bullets I pulled out of my vehicle,” Sherman said.

The fact he had a wife and three children was certainly a factor in his transition from I.T. work for the military in a war zone to being a beer entrepreneur back home in safe, quiet Canada.

But there was another consideration.

“You go through this thing in life where you think you’ve got to be the best in your job, but it was more important to me to find that thing I really wanted to do, and find a way to do it for the rest of my life,” Sherman said.

Sherman said he and his business partner shared that philosophy and took the chance on Tool Shed Brewery (so named because the two brewed beer in Sherman’s backyard tool shed).

“We came up against so many insane brick walls.”

Those brick walls included provincial government red tape in Alberta which stipulated he could not apply to be a brewer unless he could brew at least 500,000 litres of beer a year.

Through hard work, and through getting that law changed, Sherman succeeded.

Thursday marked Sherman’s first visit to the Sault, and his first time as a business case judge.

“I love it.  I love the spark in the eyes of these students.  What I see in these kids is an opportunity for them to go after things in life, to take those chances when they’re young,” said Sherman, 40.

“Take chances, go after it, get it done!”

After making her mark as founder of OMX, an online business which works with the defence, aerospace and shipbuilding sectors, Nicole Verkindt started up Tiburon, an offshore manufacturing business which made shelter components for government contractors in the thick of war-torn Afghanistan and Iraq. 

Tiburon is a Spanish word for shark.

“I was a shark lady,” Verkindt stated confidently, as Tiburon’s sole competitor was named Barracuda.

“It’s been a really great experience,” said Verkindt of her gig as a member of CBC’s Next Gen Den, a TV show which serves as a launching pad for younger entrepreneurs, a spin off from Dragons’ Den, in which entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of venture capitalists.

“It forces you to think of your own business model and take my own advice.”  

“I’ve spent a lot of time over the past couple of years (mentoring young business people)…I’m very passionate about young people and their start up ideas,” Verkindt said.

“Today’s been awesome.”

“My advice is to just get started, get in the market, start selling something and keep evolving, get in there as soon as possible for the lowest cost instead of spending years doing all that business model analysis.”

“For sure I can see myself (in the business case competition students),” said Verkindt, 32.