Paul and Tom Kinnear Business Plan Competition winner takes $5K top prize

KINGSTON, ON – April 7, 2015 – Talon Lloyd, Comm’15, took top honours at the annual Paul and Tom Kinnear Business Plan Competition held Mar. 26 at Goodes Hall. His venture, Lloyd & Company Bespoke Tailoring, offers custom-made suits and shirts at retail facilities in Toronto and Ottawa. The company has delivered garments to more than 500 customers since its launch in May 2013. Talon is now looking to expand by replicating the brand's success in the U.S. market.

Established in 2008 by Dr. Tom Kinnear, BCom’66, LLD’02, the competition awards the winning team $5,000 to launch or further the ongoing operations of its venture. Each year, teams that comprise at least one QSB Commerce student submit their business plans. After a preliminary round, the final four teams present to a panel of judges that selects the winning team.

This year’s finalists were:
•    Brockington Group Inc., led by second-year Commerce students Amit Kumar, Alex Cracium and Xiao Winker, is an enterprise software start-up in the digital advertising space that helps online publishers optimize ad-delivery.
•    SimplyFeed.me, led by Vladimir Bogdashkin, Comm’15,  Claudia Hidou, MIB ’15, Chris Kim, Comm’16, and Evan Marsland, Computer Engineering’16, aims to provide high quality, pre-portioned ingredients for selected recipes, combining convenience with social and economic value.
•    TheTalentWiz.com, led by Logan Houston Comm’15, is a web application focused on providing small- and mid-size businesses with a recruitment solution that meets their needs, reduces their recruitment costs, and improves their quality of hire.