ICUBE UTM

2025 Global Engagement Summit
2025-04-23 - 2025-04-27
The Global Engagement Summit is an entirely student-run social entrepreneurship conference held annually in Evanston, IL, on Northwestern’s campus. GES brings together trailblazers from all over the world to collaborate, learn about social entrepreneurship from distinguished mentors and speakers, and ultimately further their own social entrepreneurship projects. Past summits have drawn delegates from 20 different countries and have featured keynote speakers such as David Simas, CEO of the Obama Foundation, Nobel Laureate, Nadia Murad, and Betsy Ziegler, CEO of top non-profit incubator 1871 Chicago.
Prospective delegates, individuals aged 18-26, apply to GES with their own unique social entrepreneurship projects. Projects can address any social issue that the applicant finds pressing and important, and can vary in scale, scope, and stage. Programming at the Summit is aimed at facilitating the growth and development of their projects, and the Summit culminates in a pitch competition.
We invite any young changemakers to apply to be a delegate in the 2025 Summit, to be held on April 23rd through 27th, 2025. This is a great opportunity for people interested in civic engagement, business, and entrepreneurship. Additionally, The Global Engagement Summit is an incredible way to travel to the United States and connect with like-minded individuals from around the globe. We are proud to offer financial aid to help cover the costs of transportation and logistics for accepted delegates.

Find a Founder
2025-05-14 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Toronto) | UTM Room, (3rd floor of the Davis Building), 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, Mississauga, L5L 1C6, CA
Pitch Your Idea | Meet Passionate People | Build Your Team

Are you someone with a great idea, but need team members to help make it happen? Pitch your project to a room full of eager entrepreneurials looking for opportunities to build their portfolio, volunteer for a cool startup, or hoping to join a great project as a founding team member. Hiring grants are available to eligible teams.

Don’t have an idea yet, but know that the entrepreneurial spirit runs through your veins? Join us to learn about entrepreneurship and find out about new ways of getting involved in our community. Listen to founders pitch their ideas, and identify projects that resonate with you. Make connections, create opportunities for yourself, or even join a company as a founding member, all while obtaining a transcript notation!
Every founder team will be assigned to a short timeslot to pitch their idea. Timeslots will be given on a first come first served basis, pending interest.

If you are interested in pitching your project/idea, please apply by heading to http://icubeutm.ca/faf

ICUBEUTM | Celebrating 10 Years of Commitment to Innovation
2025-07-16 18:00 - 20:00 (Africa/Abidjan) | University of Toronto Mississauga, Innovation Complex, 3359 Mississauga Road, Mississauga, ON L5L 1C6, Mississauga, L5L 1C6, CA
To celebrate ten years of innovation in social impact, ICUBE wants to welcome you here to help us look back – and forward! This fun-filled night will feature trivia games, networking, an opportunity to hear from founders (past and present), and of course, food!

This fun-filled night will feature trivia games, networking, an opportunity to hear from founders (past and present), and of course, food!

If you would like to include a message for ICUBE to be featured in a “yearbook” showcased at the event, please email ICUBE Program Lead, Kayla Sousa at kayla.sousa@utoronto.ca. In your message, kindly include your name, relationship to ICUBE, and the years that you were/are active. Messages should be emailed in no later than July 5th.

The Panel

Kyle Wang is a molecular biologist and startup builder who converts ambitious ideas into data-driven products. In his PhD, he pairs machine learning with high-throughput microscopy to map how tiny mistakes in the genome can cascade into cell-wide changes, giving researchers an unprecedented, quantitative view of biology. Beyond the lab, he co-founded Archipelago, a gamified fitness platform that replaces guilt and grind with experience points, level-ups, teamwork, and friendly competition. Whether debugging code or designing the next workout challenge, Kyle works from a simple premise: when people see progress the way scientists see results, curiosity and motivation feed each other.

Kay Boamah is the Co-founder and Chief Partnerships Officer at Swiirl, an AI-powered platform transforming marketing into community-led storytelling. Swiirl connects leading brands with K-12 schools, universities, and community organizations, empowering youth through “Learn While You Earn” opportunities in creative content creation. An alumnus of the University of Toronto’s ICUBE accelerator, Kay’s journey is rooted in building impactful ventures that bridge technology with social good. Under his leadership, Swiirl has secured strategic partnerships with entities like JYD Project Inc. (Shooting for Peace), extending its reach to NBA, MLS, and FIFA, activating communities across North America and beyond. Swiirl’s model champions authentic brand engagement while directing significant resources into educational programs, fostering entrepreneurship, and providing real-world experience for diverse youth. Kay is passionate about democratizing access to opportunities and proving that purpose-driven business can achieve both profit and profound social impact.

Shirook Ali is the Founder and CEO of Ecosystem Informatics Inc., where she’s turning cutting-edge technology into real-world impact. A PhD in Electrical Engineering with 34 patents, she spent years building innovation at companies like BlackBerry. Since 2012, Shirook has shifted her focus to climate—leading renewable energy research at McMaster University before launching ESI to close the global gap in environmental data. Today, her mission is clear: empower communities and decision-makers with the data they need for a healthier, more sustainable future.

Agenda

6:00 PM – 6:10 PM | Registration

6:10 PM – 6:30 PM | Welcome Remarks

6:30 PM – 7:00 PM | Founder Panel

7:00 PM – 7:15 PM | Trivia Game

7:15 PM – 7:40 PM | Networking Break

7:40 PM – 7:55 PM | Mentorship Awards

7:55 PM – 8:00 PM | Closing Remarks

Business and Taxes 101
2025-08-06 13:00 - 14:00 (Africa/Abidjan) | Online Event
Join us for a crash course on navigating the world of business and taxes – we’ll make sure you’re prepared to handle it all like a pro!

Speakers

Arif Amjad is a Tax Partner at SRJ Chartered Professional Accountants, where he is dedicated to transforming how businesses approach their finances through innovative, cloud-based solutions. With extensive expertise in Canadian taxation, Arif specializes in advising small and medium-sized businesses and e-commerce enterprises, offering tailored strategies for growth and compliance. He is passionate about guiding SMBs towards effective tax optimization, efficient bookkeeping, and strategic financial management.
Arif holds a Master of Taxation from the University of Waterloo and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto, underpinning his strong technical foundation in accounting and tax. Arif’s professional journey includes key roles at Deloitte and BDO Canada, where he developed deep expertise in tax planning and advisory services.
In addition to his professional practice, he has contributed to academia as a sessional lecturer at both Wilfrid Laurier University and Brock University.

Tabish Bhatti is a Partner at SRJ Chartered Professional Accountants, where he leads the National Credits and Government Incentives division. He specializes in helping both startups and large multinational organizations access government funding through programs like SR&ED, IRAP, and other innovation-focused incentives. With a strong foundation in finance and software development, Tabish brings a unique perspective to technical claims and funding strategies across diverse industries.
Tabish studied Business Commerce – Finance at Ontario Tech University and Software Development at Centennial College. His career includes progressive roles at RSM, BDO, Deloitte, and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), where he developed a deep understanding of tax policy, consulting, and R&D advisory services.
Known for his practical approach and results-driven mindset, Tabish has helped clients secure millions in non-dilutive capital while navigating complex funding ecosystems and developing strategies to help scale both early-stage startups and large corporations.

Ideation Lab Pitch Competition
2025-08-13 17:30 - 19:00 (Africa/Abidjan) | Online Event
Join us from 5:30pm to 7:00pm on August 13, 2025, for the Ideation Lab Pitch Competition!

ICUBE at UTM is proud to celebrate stellar innovation from an incredible array of diverse founders within our student, alumni, and regional community. We are also excited to honour the work of many founders through the Ideation Lab across other sectors at this dynamic competition. Be sure to join us virtually to see examples of how the pitching process works and understand what to expect from investors and interested parties. And don’t forget that you can cast your vote and make a difference by helping to determine the People’s Choice recognitions for the evening

#UofT Pride Pitch
2025-08-28 16:00 - 18:00 (Africa/Abidjan) | Debates Room, Hart House Building, 7 Hart House Circle, Toronto, ON M5S 3H3, Toronto, M5S 3H3, CA
ICUBE, The University of Toronto, and The City of Mississauga are proud to announce the sixth year of the Pride Pitch event.

ICUBE, The University of Toronto, and The City of Mississauga are proud to announce the sixth year of the Pride Pitch event, which is open to all students, staff, and faculty from all three campuses of the university, as well as members of the community (Peel Region). The program is a competition that offers a total of $10,000 in cash prizes to recognize, reward, and accelerate the growth of 2SLGBTQ+ (Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, and others) entrepreneurs.
Individuals or teams who are interested in participating in the competition will have the opportunity to showcase their ideas through a five-minute pitch to a panel of judges. The judges will evaluate the ideas and determine the winners based on various criteria, including originality, feasibility, impact, and potential for success.
The goal of the PRIDE Pitch program is to provide support and resources for 2SLGBTQ+ entrepreneurs, and to help them succeed in their ventures. By offering cash prizes, the program hopes to incentivize individuals and teams to pursue their entrepreneurial goals and turn their ideas into reality.

Information about the venue can be found here: https://harthouse.ca/spaces/venues/debates-room

CCSBE 2025
2025-10-28 - 2025-10-29
Change: entrepreneurs react to it, navigate it, drive it. Change creates opportunities and entrepreneurs drive change, seeing what is possible and bringing it to life. Change can happen quickly and creates the need for adaptation. What worked last year or even yesterday may no longer work, it obsoletes plans, products and even skills and experience.
The events of 2025 have threatened changes that have shattered assumptions of businesses and entrepreneurs in Canada and around the world. They have also highlighted long-standing challenges in the Canadian economy in our productivity, supply chain resilience, business R&D investment, and the lack of international trade diversity. Will these threats finally result in changes in the Canadian economy? How should business adapt? How should we adapt training and support of entrepreneurs, new ventures and small businesses for growth, productivity, innovation and resilience in this new environment? As people who support entrepreneurs from post-secondary students to small or medium enterprises (SMEs), the 2025 CCSBE Conference aims to explore the question:
How have we and how might we educate and support entrepreneurs to respond to change and lead the change that the world needs?
The Longo Centre for Entrepreneurship of Humber Polytechnic and ICUBE at the University of Toronto Mississauga are proud to host the CCSBE Conference 2025 to explore how entrepreneurial education and support organizations can adapt to these challenges and showcase the research and success stories of making an impact.

Ask Me Anything with SLC Law
2026-02-04 17:30 - 19:00 (America/Toronto) | Online, Webinar
Join an interactive Ask Me Anything session with an experienced lawyer focused on the legal questions entrepreneurs actually face. Bring your questions on trademarks, intellectual property, and shareholder structures—and get clear, practical guidance you can use right away. Perfect for founders who want to set up their businesses for long-term success.
​
​About the Speaker and SLC Law:
​SLC Law was founded by Michael Scardicchio with the aim to provide assistance to individuals and businesses in their business law matters. Michael’s practice is rooted in a multidisciplinary approach, ensuring a comprehensive perspective on various legal facets. His key areas of focus include corporate structuring, corporate governance, intellectual property, enforcement of intellectual property rights, drafting and negotiating commercial agreements, business sales, general business law, and litigation. Michael also has alternative dispute resolution experience in negotiation, mediation, and arbitration.
​His keen understanding of commercial requirements assists him with serving businesses of diverse scales and sectors, including small businesses to ensure that their unique needs are met. Additionally, Michael’s understanding of science and technology, specifically, physics, biology, and software development, significantly aids his practice when dealing with tech-based clients. His extensive experience spans a wide array of sectors, from e-commerce marketplaces to SaaS platforms, machine learning software, and beyond. Michael has honed a keen understanding of the commercial needs of technology companies of various sizes. Regardless of the industry or the size of the business, his versatile legal acumen makes him a crucial legal ally in an ever-evolving business landscape. Michael is also a Certified Information Privacy Professional/Canada (CIPP/C). He navigates privacy-related issues across public and private sectors, including health information privacy.

Branding
2026-02-11 17:30 - 19:00 (America/Toronto) | Online, Webinar
​This workshop shows leaders and entrepreneurs how branding can be a universal language and a strategic tool for growth, cultural connection, and global positioning—making it especially relevant for internationally minded businesses and impact-driven audiences. Learn how to use brand strategy to stand out, build influence, and scale with confidence across borders.
​This is perfect for:
​Entrepreneurs, business owners, and global changemakers seeking to expand their reach and impact
​In this session, you will learn:
​· How to create the core foundations of an authentic and impactful brand identity that resonates with diverse audiences around the world
​· To understand colour psychology, typography, and design principles through an international lens, creating a cohesive and memorable brand presence that inspires trust and drives conversions
​· The art of compelling storytelling that transcends borders, captivating hearts and minds by engaging on both emotional and cultural levels
​
​About the Speaker
​Christine Lieu-Guzauskas is the powerhouse behind CL Designs and the Brand Party Podcast. When she’s not trading in climbing the corporate ladder for climbing mountains around the world, she’s helping purpose-driven businesses and nonprofits transform their branding, web design, and marketing collateral into efficient impact and sales.
​From household names like Walmart, MLSE, and CBC Music to bold, bootstrapping startups across every industry, Christine’s creativity earned her a Digital Publishing Award nomination and a feature in Top 10 Canada Design for the Brand Party Podcast. A dynamic speaker and host, she brings infectious energy and real-talk advice on branding, storytelling, and the art of celebration to stages worldwide.

Ideation to Pitch: Mastering Founder Velocity with Facilitate
2026-02-18 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Toronto) | Online, Webinar
Early-stage entrepreneurship often feels like “structured chaos”. To move from a raw idea to a venture-ready pitch, founders must master the art of clarity, resonance, and speed. In this interactive, high-energy session, Kay Boamah (ICUBE Alum & Founder of Facilitate) will lead a hands-on, interactive workshop using the Facilitate platform.
Rather than just watching a demo, founders will actively use the Entrepreneur Dashboard to architect their business models in real-time. We will dive deep into the two pillars of early-stage success:
1. The Ideation Studio: Architecting the Logic
We will move past surface-level ideas by stress-testing the 4 Pillars of your business:

The Problem: Defining “pain points” that demand a solution.
The Solution: Articulating your product’s value proposition with precision.
The Impact: Connecting your commercial goals to social causes.
The Pricing: Setting a strategic price point for market entry.
Founders will use the “Refine with Facilitate” AI to instantly upgrade their phrasing into professional business language.

2. The Pitch Studio: From Script to Screen
A great idea is only as good as its delivery. Using Facilitate’s Pitch Studio, founders will:

Select a narrative tone (Fun, Corporate, or Story) to match their brand.
Generate an AI-powered script based on their validated ideation logic.
Be ready to record a 30-second “Elevator Pitch” directly within the platform for immediate feedback.

The Goal:
Founders will leave this session with a completed business profile and a recorded pitch, ready to accelerate their journey within the ICUBE ecosystem.

The Speaker: Kay Boamah Founder, Facilitate | ICUBE Accelerator Alum

Kay Boamah is the founder of Facilitate and a proud alum of the ICUBE accelerator. Having sat in the exact same seats as the founders he now supports, he intimately understands the “structured chaos” of building an early-stage venture. His deep ties to the university’s entrepreneurship ecosystem drive his mission to empower the next generation of builders.
A battle-tested operator, Kay has navigated the full spectrum of the founder journey. His track record includes leading sales and driving hyper-growth at Garten, a FoodTech startup ($10M to $100M ARR) before its acquisition , and co-founding the Community insight engine Swiirl. Today, Kay builds at the intersection of human potential and artificial intelligence. Through Facilitate, he equips early-stage entrepreneurs with AI-augmented tools to master their business logic and pitch delivery , ensuring they can confidently compete on a global stage.

Demystifying Early‑Stage Financing: VC vs Angel
2026-02-25 17:30 - 19:30 (America/Toronto) | KN L1215
About Ben (Co-founder @ Capita, Community Lead @ Fresh Founders)
Ben co-founded Capita, the agentic law firm for startups and SMEs. Backers include Drive Capital, Hyperplane VC, Fresh Founders, and tech execs in San Francisco, New York, and Tel Aviv. Ben leads Community at Fresh Founders, an invite‑only network of high‑achieving young entrepreneurs in Canada and the U.S. He is a lawyer‑turned‑founder with operator experience supporting hundreds of founders with incorporations, equity, fundraising, and commercial work.
About Capita
Capita is an agentic law firm that uses the latest technology to democratize corporate legal services for entrepreneurs. AI agents and expert lawyers deliver fast, reliable help on:

Incorporations and clean cap tables
Founder and employee equity, ESOPs
Fundraising docs such as SAFEs, notes, and priced rounds
IP and assignment hygiene for university spinouts
Commercial sales contracts, MSAs, and vendor compliance

What this event is about
A practical session for students, PIs, grad students, any members of the community interested in building a company. The talk removes jargon and shows how to raise smart money while protecting founder interests.
You will learn

Where the first 500K to 2M usually comes from
Angels vs VCs. How they evaluate, how fast they move, and what they expect
SAFEs vs priced rounds and how terms affect dilution and control
Spinout‑ready IP and assignment basics that investors expect
A simple investor readiness checklist you can use immediately

PITCH With a Twist - Celebrating International Women's Day
2026-03-04 17:30 - 19:30 (America/Toronto) | Innovation Complex, 3359 Mississauga Rd, Mississauga, ontario, L5L 1C6, Canada
Join us on March 4th, 2026, to support women entrepreneurs at Pitch with a Twist, a competition dedicated to breaking down barriers and celebrating innovative ideas from diverse voices. In honor of International Women’s Month, this event will highlight the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of women-identifying innovators.
Experience inspiring ventures as finalists showcase their startups at interactive booths, allowing judges and attendees to engage directly with these talented entrepreneurs. The event will also feature a panel of women-identifying judges who will evaluate each startup.
Attendees can look forward to exceptional speakers sharing their journeys and insights, offering valuable lessons in entrepreneurship. This is a unique opportunity to network with leading companies and immerse yourself in the excitement of entrepreneurship in action.
