Welcome to the Nicol Entrepreneurial Award Competition at the University of Ottawa
The Competition
The Nicol Award is a national program designed to generate and reward interest in entrepreneurship on the part of undergraduate students in any faculty or field of study at participating universities across Canada. Launched in 1998, this program now awards over $100,000 in prize money each year to individual students or student teams who submit winning plans for their entrepreneurial business ideas.
Who is eligible?
Any team from the University of Ottawa is eligible to enter the competition. Teams can consist of from 1-3 students, the majority of whom must be full-time undergraduates at the University of Ottawa:
- If the team has only one member, he/she must be an undergraduate at the University of Ottawa.
- If the team has two members, at least one – including the team leader -- must be an undergraduate at the University of Ottawa. The second can be an undergraduate or graduate student at any Canadian university, or have graduated from a Canadian university within the past two years.
- If the team has three members, at least two – including the team leader -- must be undergraduates at the University of Ottawa. The third can be an undergraduate or graduate student at any Canadian university, or have graduated from a Canadian university within the past two years.
The University of Ottawa student members must be an integral part of the business opportunity being proposed.
How to enter
To enter the competition, you just follow three simple steps.
- Sign-up on-line to indicate your interest and provide key contact information.
- Register your team and confirm that all team members satisfy the eligibility requirements listed above.
- Note that for a multi-person team, the team leader must register on behalf of all team members.
- Submit a very short “opportunity outline” of your proposed business idea.
This initial opportunity outline will be reviewed by the campus faculty advisor to ensure that it meets competition guidelines. If it does, you will be asked to submit a more detailed executive summary of your proposed plan. Top entries will be selected by a panel of judges and selected teams will then be invited to develop a full business plan for the competition.
To find out more about the Nicol Award and the competition process go to www.nicol-award.com
To find out more about the specific details of the Nicol Competition at your university, contact your campus advisor, Dr Bruce Firestone (bmfirestone@exploriem.org).