Participants in this year's edition of Blueprint: Ryan Hayes, Fogler, Rubinoff LLP; Martin Croteau, Ontario Centres of Excellence (Judge); Shannon Passero, Pure & Co (Judge); JF Amprimoz, Start up Niagara (Judge); Benjamin Haggith, Sparta CRM (Winner, front); Sam Baio, West 49 (Judge); Angelo Nitsopoulos, Heart of Niagara Hotels (Judge); Shawn Quait, Tribute Tree (winner); and Avi Banerjee, Sparta CRM (winner)

A customer relationship management tool took home the grand prize at Brock’s annual campus-wide entrepreneurship competition March 12.

Startup SpartaCRM, developed by recent business administration graduate Benjamin Haggith, earned the top honours at Blueprint among five finalists who took part in the competition.
Haggith received $5,000 from the Brock University Students’ Union for SpartaCRM, which helps sales reps track their interactions with current and potential customers.

Blueprint is organized by the Goodman School of Business’s BioLinc, Brock’s on campus business incubator. The competition, now in its fourth year, is designed to kick-start the business ventures of Brock students and alumni by providing finalists and winners with expert advice, mentorship and up to $10,000 in funding.

Tribute Tree, a website that helps pre-plan funerals, was awarded the Nitsopoulos Family Entrepreneurship Award at the event. Created by Goodman MBA student Shawn Quait, Tribute Tree is a mobile-friendly “software as a service” website platform available for people who pre-plan their own funeral. Funeral homes, and friends and family of the deceased can also use the app.

Quait, who recently completed BioLinc’s Kick-Starting Entrepreneurship program, won $5,000 from the Nitsopoulos Family. He’ll also receive a legal start-up package, valued at $5,000 of in-kind services, from Toronto law firm Folger, Robinoff LLP.

The winning teams were selected by judges Sam Baio, West49 founder, Angelo Nitsopoulos, chief operating officer of Heart of Niagara Hotels, Martin Croteau from Ontario Centres of Excellence, JF Amprimoz of Start Up Niagara, and Shannon Passero, head designer and co-founder of Pure & Co.

SmartPay Inc., Handy Hand, and MedScan Today also competed in Blueprint, which was held at Isaac’s Bar and Grill.