On Friday September 21st, EPICentre held its first Social Impact Pitch Competition. Six teams were selected to pitch out of many competitive applicants – and three teams were awarded the grand prize of acceptance to a 4-month accelerator program and an $8000 stipend to work on their social enterprise projects. The three winners include: AidaNote, GreenerBins Composting, and INpact Iintative.

AidaNote is a distributed speech-to-text platform that provides real-time transcription to the audience of any speaker. GreenerBins is an organic waste-pickup service in Windsor-Essex and beyond. INpact Initative acts as a market intermediary by selling Indian artisans in Canada and using the profits to connect children to education opportunities in India. All three winners will be part of an intensive four-month accelerator that runs from October to January. The accelerator includes workshops, 1-on-1 mentorship from a social enterprise coach, access to a large-network in Windsor-Essex and other regions, funding from Libro Credit Union, and hot desks/rooms to work on the idea as they develop.

A huge thank you to everyone who came out (the room was full with standing room only!) and to the judges: Lori Atkinson, Anushree Dave, and Colin Matthews.