Stu Clark New Venture Championships welcomes 32 student entrepreneurial teams from across North America with over $72,000 in cash prizes on the line
When the doors open at the Fairmont Hotel on April 30, the excitement and nerves will be brewing as top student entrepreneurs from across North America gather to compete for over $72,000 in cash prizes.
This year's Stu Clark New Venture Championships, hosted by the Stu Clark Centre for Entrepreneurship inside the Asper School of Business, is one of Canada's largest business plan competitions. This year has reached a new milestone, receiving over 150 applications from across the continent. From that elite pool, 32 teams, 16 undergraduate and 16 graduate, were selected to pitch their ideas against the top student founders.
Among these teams is Amani Wellness, a venture that began not in a high-tech lab, but in a parent's kitchen. Co-founder Cieran O'Hara spent years researching adaptogens and natural herbs that help the body manage stress, after his own search for better focus during his days as a basketball player with the University of Manitoba Bisons. Alongside Co-Founder Daniel Belokurov, the Asper School of Business duo has turned a 15-page research document into a holistic brand that hosts community wellness events.
Reflecting on the journey, Cieran notes that it will be rewarding to look back at how far they have come while getting real, immediate feedback from industry experts.
Santiago Villarreal Villarraga, a Master's student in the Price Faculty of Engineering, addresses a critical problem that is becoming increasingly prevalent in Manitoba and across the globe: the devastating impact of wildfires.
Having witnessed intense fire seasons in both his home country, Colombia, and Canada, Santiago realized that firefighters often lack real-time information because cellular and satellite coverage frequently fail during active burns.
His business, FlamePath Electronics Corporation, bridges this gap by using an AI-powered drone payload that analyzes live video to identify terrain, fuel types, and fire movement. FlamePath’s instant predictions provide a powerful automated tool to fire chiefs who currently make calculations manually under extreme pressure.
He is looking forward to the high-stakes learning experience of pitching at the New Venture Championships.
The spirit of growth is also embodied by returning competitors like Hamasa Ebadi from Washington University in St. Louis, whose venture, Neurofore, uses AI to detect Parkinson's disease years before physical symptoms appear. She returns to the competition this year after using feedback from previous Stu Clark judges last year to completely overhaul her company's strategy completely.
The Stu Clark Centre invites you to RSVP to watch the final championship round happening on May 2, 2026, in the Winnipeg Centre Ballroom at the Fairmont Hotel to see who will win the $72,000 in cash prizes.
Admission is free, and the public is encouraged to save their spot and witness the next generation of innovation.
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