The McGill Dobson Cup Start-UP Competition (MDC) is McGill’s Centre for Entrepreneurship flagship start-up competition where young entrepreneurs compete for more than $100,000 in cash and other prizes. The MDC begins with an electronic written application and culminates in two rounds of live pitching and judging. Once more this year, EMBA alumni volunteered their time to judge the live pitches. They also acted as coaches for the entrepreneurs and offered them guidance on how to move their ideas forward, while challenging their assumptions and helping them understand what questions they need to be asking next.
This year’s judging panels included the following four McGill-HEC Montréal EMBA alumni:
– Yvan Guibault (EMBA 2014) launched Gestion D.G. Guibault Ltée, a commercial and office building contractor in 1971. Yvan has over 45 years of experience in management and entrepreneurship. He is also President of the Board of the Musée d’arts de Joliette and President of Logiflex is a logistics “3PL” services provider and supply chain specialist.
«Être juge et coach nous force à revisiter les principes de base des affaires et à partager notre expérience acquise à travers les années avec des jeunes qui se retrouvent aujourd’hui au même endroit où nous étions à nos débuts. En mettant notre expérience et notre réseau à leur service, nous leur permettons de mettre la main sur un avantage important. Personnellement, j’ai reçu beaucoup, il est donc normal pour moi de maintenant donner au suivant. Bien au-delà de cela, j’apprends beaucoup des nouvelles idées et des nouvelles façons de faire à l’heure des médias sociaux et de leur impact, des nouvelles opportunités, etc.»
– Eric Bourbeau (EMBA 2010) has over 25 years of experience in technology, including 15 years at TELUS in Quebec. An experienced manager, his career path reflects his entrepreneurial spirit. In 1989, Eric founded the ZENON Group, a Quebec leader in computer systems integration which was ultimately acquired by TELUS. Under his leadership, for 4 consecutive years the company ranked among the top 100 fastest growing companies in Canada measured over 5 years, according to Profit 100 magazine. In 1997, Eric was named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in Quebec.
– Guy Labelle (EMBA 2010) is Director, Telecommunication Solutions at Hydro-Quebec. As part of his duties, he oversees the evolution of Hydro-Québec’s telecommunication network, the largest non-commercial telecom network in Canada. In his role, he currently manages over 350 telecom projects and an investment portfolio of 950 M$.
– René Massicotte (EMBA 2014) created Investissement RM at the end of his EMBA after being Vice-President of Finance for a railroad construction and maintenance company, where he helped the company grow its turnover to six times, profitability 32 times, while increasing employment from 40 to 250. He has been a member of Anges Québec for a year and has invested in four projects.
