Reflecting on the Youth Climate Pitch Competition
Photo of the Youth Climate Pitch Competition 1st prize and audience choice winners, LDN Records, pictured with the competition judges.
In May of this year, Nova Scotia saw its first ever Youth Climate Pitch Competition. Co-hosted by Tribe Network and the Halifax Climate Investment, Innovation and Impact Fund (HCi3), the competition was an opportunity for racialized youth in Nova Scotia to get involved in the clean economy, receive mentorship, and compete for a cash prize. The idea for the competition was born out of Tribe’s desire for racialized founders in Nova Scotia to get involved in high growth, high impact areas, including the clean economy, and HCi3’s commitment to encourage an increasing diversity of leadership in climate action. .
The competition began with a general call for pitches from innovators aged 16-30 on February 19th, and applicants had until April 9th to submit their ideas. We looked for projects that fell into one of three categories: clean transportation, renewable energy, and energy efficiency.
From the initial pitch submissions, we selected 10 finalists to move onto the next stage: mentorship and pitch refining. Each finalist was paired up with an industry expert, whether that be someone who works in the clean energy space, or is an expert in business. Each group had from April 8 - May 8 to refine their pitch to prepare for the final pitch day on May 9th.
We received many creative and inspiring ideas from our applicants. Things like…
🚌 Solutions for improving public transportation
🌾 Solutions for improving aquaculture and agriculture
💡 Solutions for more streamlined and sustainable electricity.
The final pitch day arrived on May 19th, and what a day it was! In the end, we had 7 finalists present their pitches to a room full of community members, industry professionals, and those who are interested and invested in diverse representation in the clean economy.
Our judges panel was made up of three inspiring individuals: Michael Polak, President and CEO of Akwekon Enterprises, Julia Sable, Manager of Strategic Outreach and Initiatives at HCi3, and Guangling Jiao, Investment Associate with Invest Nova Scotia. This panel was carefully selected, balancing diversity of experiences and backgrounds. Given the nature of the competition, we wanted to ensure that our judges had expertise in renewable energy, direct investing, community-level initiatives, energy efficiency, transportation, and local climate context. We also wanted to ensure that our panel was majority racialized to eliminate as much unconscious bias as possible while reviewing these projects.
After some amazing pitches (and in some cases, performances), the judges made the difficult decision of picking the first and second place winners, and the audience placed their ballots for the surprise audience choice award!
And the winners were…
LDN Records, with the first place prize AND audience choice award, for a total of $12,500 ($10,000 for first place and $2,500 for audience choice), and Cavlom Enterprises, with the second place prize of $5,000.
LDN Records, a music production studio, proposed the building of a sustainable music studio using nature-based design, renewable energy, and energy efficiency principles. This studio will be located at Hope Blooms in Uniacke Square, and will primarily serve the youth in the area, as well as anyone else looking to record and produce their music there. At the same time, the studio will serve as an educational tool for teaching the community about net-zero design, energy efficiency, and renewable energy. LDN Records is hopeful that others will want to replicate this design, and they will be sharing the design of their studio to help ensure that others who are also looking to green their operations can learn from the work they have done.
Cavlom Enterprises is a start-up based in Antigonish that aims to serve auto-rickshaw drivers in Southern Nigeria by electrifying auto-rickshaws. By doing so, Cavlom will help the drivers save money by on fuel, while also reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of the many auto-rickshaws that are in operation. The goal of this project is to scale up the operations of Cavlom to serve auto-rickshaw drivers across all of Nigeria, and eventually, across all of Africa.
Throughout this competition, we were thoroughly impressed by the projects, innovations, and creativity that the applicants displayed. And this competition was only the beginning; building on the success of this competition, we will continue to support racialized founders who want to tackle the climate crisis, including all of our amazing finalists:
Sea-Water Air Conditioning (SWAC): Innovation to pump sea-water into buildings along the Halifax Harbour to naturally cool buildings.
Cherish the Seas: Children’s books featuring Cherish the Seas’ cute critter mascot, Kiwi the Crab, that educate young audiences about renewable energy and ocean conservation.
Renewly Solar Navigator: An online tool to help homeowners connect with solar developers and installers to find the best fit for their home energy projects.
Reverse Surge Pricing: A project to incentivize individuals to take public transit during “reverse surge” times by reducing costs.
Ecohabitat: An app that rewards green, sustainable actions such as recycling, taking the bus, and shopping second hand. The app uses a subscription model, and provides rewards for completing tiers of tasks.
Thank you again to everyone who brought their innovations and ideas to the first Youth Climate Pitch Competition. We can’t wait to see what you all accomplish.
Curious how our final pitch day went? Check out the video below, made by @thatsoundguy!