RICHMOND – Weekends spent studying business skills and mulling over biology and chemistry questions have cleared the way to Atlanta, Ga. for a group of Vancouver and Richmond teens.
The five teens flew, all expenses paid, to Atlanta recently to compete for $25,000 in prizes in a global business plan competition and came first, winning the grand prize.
Ravi Chalhotra, a Grade 12 student from Notre Dame Catholic high school in Hastings-Sunrise, collaborated with his cousin Rajeev Bagga, and Aman Malhotra from St. George’s private school for boys, and two girls who attend public schools in Richmond as part of TiE Young Entrepreneurs, reported the Richmond Review newspaper.
In its third year, TiE, which stands for Talent, Ideas and Enterprise, is new to Canada. Chalhotra and his peers competed against teens from 16 cities in the United States, India, Australia and England.
They had little time to prepare for the global competition since beating Metro Vancouver teams in front of five Vancouver-based venture capitalists and entrepreneurs April 1.
One of the other groups developed an app for a smart-phone that would allow restaurant patrons to complete a survey to receive discounts. Another group conceived headphones that would swivel to serve as high-quality speakers.
Chalhotra, the son of a plumber and a resident of Renfrew, dreams of becoming a doctor and opening his own clinic. He had finished a biology test early when he was struck with an idea for a spray-on bandage. His biology teacher told him they already were on the market, so he conceived a sprayon cast. His group also consulted professors at the University of B.C.
“I’ve never actually talked to professors or business people [before] but as we went through this it became easier to talk to them,” Chalhotra said.
The spray-on cast consists of a bandage that’s coated with a freezing solution to cool the injured area and reduce swelling. The outside would be coated with chemicals that react to a spray to form a strong adhesive that would function as a cast.
They haven’t tested their product but Chalhotra says their consultants believe it’s feasible. “All the chemicals, they’re not easily accessible to high school people,” Chalhotra said. His team would use its winnings to copyright their idea, start the patenting application and seek investors. Research, development and approvals for new medical products cost millions of dollars.
