Applications close May 21 for CYBF’s Spin Master Innovation Fund
Applications close May 21 for CYBF’s Spin Master Innovation Fund
Toronto, ON – May 10, 2013 – The deadline is fast approaching for Spin Master Innovation Fund applications. Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF) and Spin Master Innovation Ltd., have teamed up for the third consecutive year to launch the fund, where young entrepreneurs have a chance to qualify for start-up financing up to $50,000, a hand-matched mentor from CYBF’s industry-leading mentoring program, and a trip to the Spin Master offices in Toronto to attend a two-day Innovation Workshop with exclusive access to senior Spin Master executives.
The application is open to aspiring young entrepreneurs between the age of18 and 39 years old, providing applicants with an opportunity to kick-start their innovative start-up business. Those interested can apply online by 5:00 p.m. EST on May 21, 2013 at www.cybf.ca/innovation.
As a way of showcasing the amazing successes of past Spin Master Innovation Fund recipients, CYBF launched a “Where Are They Now?” campaign which follows the paths of several young entrepreneurs who took their idea to the next level including:
- Montreal’s Eric St. Pierre and Awane Moufide Jones, founders of Merchlar & Jenviev Azzolin, founder of pplconnect;
- Toronto’s Andrew White, founder of CHAR Technologies & Ilana Ben-Ari, founder of Twenty One Toys
- Ottawa’s Ryan MacGregor, founder of SweetSeat
According to Awane Moufide Jones, founder and CEO of Merchlar, “Without the help of the Spin Master Innovation Fund, we would never have been able to get our business off the ground. The Fund provided us with the most intense learning I have ever experienced as an entrepreneur and the essential financing we needed. I would highly recommend the program to young business people who want a program that thinks outside of the box and places real value on real world education.”
After attending the Spin Master Innovation Launch Pad Workshop in 2011, Awane Moufide Jones and his business partner Eric St. Pierre quickly received their first grant from the Research Council of Canada, launched their first successful Augmented Reality (AR) project through the discovery of a whole new technology, and released their first app with Dejardins. Now with 20 jobs created in offices in Montréal and New York, Merchlar is launching their own AR software kit, thanks to the Research and Development team led by Hazem Rushdi Mohamed, and have just won a Favourite Website Award (FWA) for their AR app.
More information about previous SMIF recipients and their businesses can be found on CYBF’s blog at www.cybf.ca/blog and remember to apply at www.cybf.ca/innovation by 5:00 p.m. EST on May 21, 2013.
About Spin Master Ltd.
A multi-category children’s entertainment company since 1994, Spin Master has been designing, developing, manufacturing and marketing consumer products for children around the world and is recognized as a global growth leader within the toy industry. Spin Master is best known for such popular
brands as boy’s action phenomena and 2009-2010 Boys Toy of the Year winner Bakugan Battle Brawlers™, and award-winning brands Air Hogs®, Appfinity™, Aquadoodle™, La Dee Da™, Nano Speed™, Spin Master Games™, Tech Deck™, and Zoobles™. The company has also marked an entry into children’s media with the launch of Spin Master Entertainment, a subsidiary focusing on the design, development and production of television and other media properties. Spin Master employs over 900 people with offices in Toronto, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Hong Kong, Mexico, Munich, Italy, Spain and central Europe. For additional information please visit: http://www.spinmaster.com/.
About the Canadian Youth Business Foundation
The Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF) is a national non-profit organization dedicated to growing our nation’s economy one young entrepreneur at a time. We look at character not collateral, when providing youth, age 18-39, with pre-launch coaching, business resources, start-up financing and mentoring, to help them launch and sustain a successful entrepreneurial business. CYBF has been recognized as a global leader in advancing youth entrepreneurship, is a founding member of the global G20 Young Entrepreneurs’ Alliance (G20 YEA) and the Canadian Host of Global Entrepreneurship Week (November 18-24, 2013). Visit www.cybf.ca.
-30-
Media contact:
Subagini Sivapatham
Manager, Marketing and Communications
Canadian Youth Business Foundation
Phone: 416-408-2923 ext. 3003
ssivapatham@cybf.ca