Annapolis Royal business second in I-3 competition

Norman Naime of Annapolis Royal, who is developing his business Millennium Hemp, placed second in Zone 3 in InNOVAcorp’s I-3 Technology Start-Up Competition, InNOVAcorp said last Thursday. “The purpose of the I-3 competition is to identify and support high potential early stage Nova Scotia knowledge based companies, and help fuel entrepreneurial activity across the province,” said Dan MacDonald, president and CEO of InNOVAcorp. “Those businesses chosen as first and second prize winners from across the province are excellent examples of the types of companies which will fuel our future economic growth.”

Zone 3 includes Digby, Annapolis, Kings, and Hants counties. Zone 3 first place winner was Ronald Swift’s MorSwift Machines Inc.

The five first place zone winners will each receive $100,000 in a combination of cash and in-kind business building services from professional service firms located in their zone to be used for the further development of their start-up ventures.

The first place winners will move on to the provincial round to compete for a $100,000 seed equity investment from InNOVAcorp.

The five second place zone winners will each receive $40,000 in a combination of cash and in-kind business building services to be used for the further development of their start-up ventures.

The winners in each zone were selected from three finalists who were chosen through three rounds of competition. The finalists presented oral pitches of their start-up businesses to a panel of judges. The finalists were evaluated based on; business plan credibility, management experience, unique proprietary and or high barrier to competitive entry, large addressable market, and the probability of obtaining a fully funded business plan. Ultimately the winning entrants were determined by the judges to have the most commercialization potential.

Prize packages in each zone will include support and services in the form of expertise from the I-3 competition partners. Visit www.innovacorp.ca to learn more about the competition’s legal, accounting, marketing, human resource and other consulting partners.

The I-3 Technology Start-Up Competition was launched on September 13, 2007. The competition received 121 formal submissions from entrepreneurs across the province.

MorSwift Machines Inc has designed and developed a pneumatic machine for semi-automatically banding bundles of products such as vegetables and building materials. Given the patented banding machine’s broad range of applications, it has the potential to make a significant impact on the international packaging industry. MorSwift has established strong supplier and global distribution agreements. The business model promises both product and consumables reoccurring revenues.

Millennium Hemp is developing a breakthrough process that separates the high value fibre found in hemp from the green stalk of the plant. The process is environmentally friendly and allows for hemp to be harvested and processed quickly and efficiently, reducing costs. Millennium Hemp's business model is based on both manufacturing and distributing their novel processing technology and feeding the growing market for high quality natural fibres to be used in textiles.