Sunpeaks Foods a true contender

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This article was published 25/06/2009 (6191 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Regan Stevenson participated in business plan competitions when he was an undergraduate at the Asper School of Business.

Now that Stevenson has been running his own business, Sunpeak Foods Inc., for a couple of years, he’s that much more realistic about where he needs the most help.

Like, for instance, when it comes to understanding what it takes to attract investors to his company.

"One of the things we want to do in the long term is raise some additional capital," he said.

Being one of four finalists who will compete Friday at the Fort Garry Hotel in this year’s Manitoba Venture Challenge ought to help Stevenson in that regard.

When it was launched last year, the Venture Challenge was configured as a "competition" that would result in a modest venture capital investment for the "winner."

It didn’t work out exactly as planned and this year the program is much more focused on education. There will be a small cash prizes for the winners, but the real reward is going to be in assisting participants in fine-tuning the pitch that potential investors will be the most receptive to.

"We learned a lot last year," said Rob Warren, director of the Stu Clarke Centre for Entrepreneurship at the Asper School of Business at the U of M and one of the event organizers. "Now the focus is on education with the program designed to enhance the opportunity for success."

Warren has built a strong franchise at the Stu Clarke Centre in the business plan competition circuit. U of M teams are mainstays in the largest competitions at universities across North America.

Warren has probably come to know better than most what constitutes a successful pitch to potential investors, regardless of the nature of the business.

"The entrepreneur may be in love with his or her technology, but that’s not what the investor is all that interested in," he said. "The investors are saying, ‘Tell me how I am going to make money from this."

The more businesses that know how to do that and succeed in attracting investment, the less impact there will be on the community when it comes to accessing venture capital.

"We see this as community development," said Jim Kilgour, executive director of the financial services division of Manitoba Competitiveness, Training and Trade. "This is about trying to increase the number of hits (with the venture capitalists)."

The province is an important sponsor of the Manitoba Venture Challenge (to the tune of about $30,000), but Kilgour and the Doer government know that the public sector has no business trying to direct investment to one business or another.

But the province is acutely aware of the difficulties — that are not going away — in trying to access financing to grow local businesses.

What’s never been all that clear is the role government should play in trying to address that deep-rooted problem.

Kilgour said there are financial, educational and infrastructure gaps.

"Education is something we can play a role in," Kilgour said.

The four companies left in the Manitoba Venture Challenge were part of a group of about 10 who were invited to "boot camps" earlier this year where Warren and Randy Thompson, an Alberta angel investor, put participants through the paces and polished the presentations.

There are cash prizes — $10,000 for first place, $5,000 for second and $2,500 for third — and matching amounts of services in kind from co-sponsors Deloitte & Touche and Aikins MacAulay & Thorvaldson. All four will also have about $3,200 worth of expenses paid to attend the Banff Venture Forum in October.

Chad Hughes, president and CEO of ResQ Track and Trace, one of the finalists, said regardless of what happens Friday, the experience has already been a good one.

"Whether we win or lose, the process has made us very, very focused," Hughes said. "This has changed us in four months."

Another change in the program from last year is that participants had to be past the seed financing stage and had to be seeking more than $1.5 million in their next round of financing.

Stevenson’s company recently started selling its low-fat, preservative-free frozen chicken fingers across the country and was able to finance the national launch after rounding up investments from about 10 local angel investors.

But soon it will need to invest in its infrastructure and Stevenson figures the experience has already helped refine his plan to get to the next level.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca

 

Manitoba Venture Challenge finalists

 

AMEBA INC.

Principal: Tony Havelka, 40

Business: A service designed to deliver children’s entertainment directly to television viewers via the Internet. Parents select titles from AmebaTV.com and download content to the Ameba set-top box. Children select titles they want to watch from this filtered list on their TV.

Backstory: Havelka founded and continues to operate a technology company that produces components for specialized head-mounted computer displays for the industrial, medical and military markets. It has grown to offer the largest selection of wearable computing products in the world.

 

SUNPEAK FOODS INC.

Principal: Regan Stevenson, 28

Business: Production and distribution of healthy, convenient foods starting with preservative-free frozen chicken fingers made with proprietary multi-grain coating.

Backstory — Stevenson started working on the business as an undergraduate business plan project. It has developed as the market for health-conscious foods took off. It’s now available in stores from B.C. to Manitoba as well as institutions including all Winnipeg Regional Health Authority hospitals.

 

GLOBAL WIND GROUP INC.

Principals: Alex Stuart, 29 and Justin Phillips, 33

Business: Regional sales and marketing for two Canadian made horizontal-axis wind turbines.

Backstory: Phillips is a serial entrepreneur and he and Stuart researched the alternative energy business until they found a way they could participate. Its first installation was announced this week at the Morris Municipal Public Service Garage in Rosenort.

 

RESQ TRACK AND TRACE

Principal: Chad Hughes, 37

Business: Markets sophisticated GPS-enabled wireless mobile communication systems, providing two-way data exchange.

Backstory: Hughes, from Brandon, worked in the telecom industry for several years and saw the value of add-on applications. Now centred in the Toronto area, where it signed a multimillion-dollar contract this week, the company’s sales growth will be administered in Manitoba.