NEXT Canada F21 Annual Report - Report - Page 34
PARTNER SPOTLIGHT
PARTNER SPOTLIGHT
The Power Of Mentorship
EY Venture weForecast Joins Next Founders
A
E
The partnership between Hatch and NEXT
Canada was created to develop more
innovative solutions. Beyond monetary
support, Hatch committed a mentor team
made up of Hatch’s executives, led by Julie
Ward, Director at Canadian Shield Capital,
and included senior leaders like; Alim
Somani, Managing Director, Hatch Digital,
Randy McMeekin, Global Managing Director,
Engineering and Board Member, and David
T. Mutombo, Managing Director (Global) Infrastructure - Water.
This team of Hatch executives dedicated
themselves to three Next AI ventures; AVO,
Micellotech and Optimate AI to accelerate
the development of their early-stage ideas,
helping founders get market-ready and
supercharging their ambition by showing
“This will always be one
of those markers on my
timeline where I can say,
wow, I grew the most in a
short period of time and it’s
because of the ecosystem
that NEXT has built.”
David Hayes
CEO & Founder of AVO
them what’s possible.
Hatch identified the potential in these
ventures early in the program. By
graduation, all three ventures were at the
top of their cohort, with AVO founder,
David Hayes, accepting this year’s Next
AI Top Entrepreneur Award. In addition
to supporting this year’s Next AI cohort,
Hatch also initiated conversations with
several of our alumni ventures and is
currently exploring ways in which they
might collaborate.
With the successful partnership this year,
are looking forward to building on our
mutual aspirations in the years to follow.
Meet The Hatch Mentors
Y is a longstanding national partner
of NEXT Canada. Their commitment
to the entrepreneurial community has
resulted in a robust, innovative partnership
that contributes to NEXT’s success. This
year, our collaboration has led to us piloting
the participation of EY venture weForecast
in Next Founders.
weForecast team members Sherif Barrad,
an associate partner in EY’s Digital Supply
Chain & Operations practice, and Deiandra
Griffith, a senior manager in the firm’s
Assurance digital and innovation group
tenthree | labs, joined Next founders to learn
from industry experts and help develop
their venture.
weForecast combines digital and emerging
technologies with EY’s legacy business
IP to deliver a breakthrough solution that
puts the power of complex forecast modelbuilding into the hands of business users
and delivers flexibility by addressing a
multitude of forecasting use cases.
This pilot was the first of its kind to
include a corporate venture team within
a Next program, and it was a tremendous
success. NEXT Canada is grateful to have
partners like EY, who allow us to continue
our impactful work and put on world-class
programs for our founders.
Sherif Barrad
Associate Partner, EY
Digital Supply Chain & Operations
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Alim Somani
Randy McMeekin
David T. Mutombo
Senior Manager, EY
Assurance Services
“
Like the other venture leaders in Next Founders, we came into the program
with lofty ambitions. Over the four months of learning from distinguished
academics, one-on-one mentorship and listening to the experiences of
guest speakers about their respective entrepreneurial journeys, we left the
program aiming even higher than when we started. NEXT has also introduced
us to a community of entrepreneurs in our cohort as well as an expansive
alumni network, which will foster relationships and business partnerships for
the entire group for years to come.
- weForecast
Julie Ward
Deiandra Griffith
“
s a first-time pledge corporate partner
Hatch entered their sponsorship
with a bang. Being a global leader
in engineering and development consulting,
one of Hatch’s focuses is innovation. With
recent investments in ventures such as
Cambridge Brain Sciences, Brainnwave,
and Peak Power, Hatch is transforming how
they bring bold and innovative solutions to
market.
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