The College of the Rockies hosted students from across the Kootenays in a competition meant to hone participants’ entrepreneurship skills.
The Kootenay Entrepreneurship Start Up Showdown had over 170 students across 42 teams participating in the region-wide competition.
The teams competed to be the top bike company in the world, using a business simulation program.
“We believe entrepreneurial skills are incredibly useful life skills. This program aims to foster those skills in our participants,” said Dr. Paul Tiege, Manager, Applied Research and Innovation at the College.
“The intention of the program is to expose youth, students, and recent graduates in our region to the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, to generate interest in entrepreneurship as a career path, to provide skills training and experiences to aid in skills and career development, and to help direct participants into appropriate regional programming”
COTR officials say 2025 is the Kootenay Entrepreneurship Program’s (KEP) third year and is offered through a partnership between College of the Rockies, Selkirk College, Kootenay Association for Science and Technology (KAST) and Mount Baker and Selkirk Secondary Schools.
“Joining the KEP and participating in events like the Kootenay Entrepreneurship Start Up Showdown are an exciting way for our business and tourism students, as well as high school students, to not only use what they are learning in the classroom to solve real-world simulations but also provide opportunities to expand their creativity, persistence, analytical thinking, and problem solving,” said College Business and Tourism instructor Becky Pelkonen.
“It also provides experiences to students in our region that aid in skills and career development.”
The simulation, named MikesBikes, allows students to take control over their own company, starting with pricing and marketing of their products, escalating to decisions about distribution, operations, finance and launching new products.
“Kootenay Association for Science and Technology was thrilled to collaborate with both colleges to unite the East and West Kootenays for an epic showdown in business innovation! This program was made possible through funding from the Rural Economic Development and Infrastructure Program grant awarded to KAST for Youth Entrepreneurship,” said Katie Wells, KAST Interim ED and CFO.
This year’s competition ended with a win for a Mount Baker High School team.
The College says this free program gives entrepreneurship skills to youth, students, and graduates across the Kootenay-Boundary region.
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