Skip to main content
details

It takes a little push to get past that bump in the road. In partnership with Telus Corp., we're asking Canada's entrepreneurs about the biggest challenge their business faces today, and how a $100,000 push would help them get past it.

Every growth story has a plot twist, but the savviest entrepreneurs thrive on a challenge. The Challenge Contest is an opportunity for Canada's brightest small business owners to tell their story – and showcase their unique ideas to solve the problems they face.

It could be outsized competition. Or a regulatory hurdle. A management issue. Or something no one could have ever foreseen. The challenge should be unique – as should be the argument for why that challenge deserves the $100,000 prize.

Who can enter

Small Canadian businesses outside Quebec with less than 150 employees are eligible to enter. If you work for the company but aren't the owner, you can still register with written permission from the owner, president or chief executive. We'll accept entries received between March 18 and May 27, 2013, at midnight, Eastern Time.

How to enter

Visit the Challenge website to sign up. In 830 words or less, tell us what your small business does, what your challenge is, how you would use $100,000 to overcome it, and what kind of results you expect. We also want to know how community investment, customer service and innovation fit into your business's values.

Finalists and winners

Entries will be reviewed and evaluated based on the challenge, proposed solution, projected results and business values. The judges will select the top four submissions by June 10. The finalists will come to the Telus House in Toronto for The Challenge Event on June 27, 2013, with transportation and accommodation expenses paid for by the sponsors.

Each finalist will have up to three minutes to pitch the judges on why they should win the $100,000 prize. Videos of these pitches will be posted on The Globe and Mail website, where readers will be able to vote for their favourite until Sept. 1. The business with the highest score among judges and readers is the winner.

The judges

The Globe and Mail's Sean Stanleigh, Steve Tustin and Terry Brodie; Hugh Johnson, vice-president for small and medium businesses, Ontario, at Telus Corp.; Jim Senko, vice-president for small and medium business marketing at Telus; Carolyn Lawrence, president of Women of Influence Inc.; Donna Marie Antoniadis, co-founder of ShesConnected Multimedia Corp.; Sally J. Daub, president and chief executive officer of ViXS Systems Inc.; and Chris Griffiths, director of Fine Tune Consulting.

The prize

The Challenge winner will take home the $100,000 grant in two instalments and have their business featured in a full-page story in The Globe and Mail.

Enter

Visit globeandmail.com/thechallenge to enter your business for a chance to win $100,000.

Interact with The Globe