Three recent Kwantlen Polytechnic University grads – including alumni from South Surrey and Cloverdale – are getting a jumpstart on their careers thanks to a Dragons' Den-style competition.
Michael Morris of Cloverdale is the top recipient of the Coast Capital Savings Youth Entrepreneurship Award, which supports KPU students and alumni who have ideas, talent and skills to start their own business, and are looking for financial support to realize their goals.
The $5,000 prize will help Morris and his business partner take Tailwind Energy Group Co. to the next level. Their company upgrades and retrofits industrial buildings with exterior LED lighting that reduces costs and environmental impact.
Morris serves as director of operations for the company, and graduated with an arts degree in policy studies from KPU this spring.
In a competition similar to CBC’s Dragons’ Den, participants from three KPU faculties and four programs pitched their business proposals to a panel that included representatives from KPU and Coast Capital Savings.
KPU alumni David Hunt of South Surrey and Tabitha Swanson of Fraser Heights secured a $2,500 award as runners-up for their startup Forte Marketing, a firm they founded during their marketing practicum at KPU.