True Wins 1st Place in PitchIt & PlanIt Competitions

The Coast Capital Innovation Center is UVic’s on-campus venture incubator that helps entrepreneurs have the support needed to make their business ideas a reality. They offer tools and expertise to entrepreneurs so that they can develop their ideas while partnering with mentors from outside of the university. Moreover, they have two competitions called PitchIt and PlanIt that help entrepreneurs get real-life business experience and offer amazing prizes to those who win.

The Coast Capital Innovation Center’s PitchIt and Planit competitions are open to any UVic student, Staff, and recent alumni. PitchIt is a pitch competition that occurs three times a year, where participants have 90 seconds to describe their concept to a panel of experts. On March 23, 2021, Rochelle Mueller took on the challenge to pitch solo and introduced True Dispensers (formerly Triden Solutions). Rochelle is a recent UVic Civil Engineering alumni that is passionate about creating a zero-waste future. The event was a success and her passion shined through during the PitchIt competition as she won the first-place prize! 

PlanIt is UVic’s business plan competition, where groups or individuals from UVic submit their business plan or canvas/model for a grand prize of up to $3000. The finalists have the opportunity to present their business plan to a panel of judges with a question-and-answer period after the presentation. On April 14, 2021, Triden presented their business plan for an automatic soap and sanitizer dispenser company called Triden. They received first place in the PlanIt competition because of their innovative and sustainable idea.