NAIT’s Mawji Centre hosts Business Innovation Showcase highlighting student-owned companies

By Nick Petlock on April 10, 2025

The Mawji Centre at NAIT hosted its annual Business Innovation Showcase on April 9. Over 80 student booths were set up this year to showcase the ideas of students and recent graduates.

Ideas ranged from concept to prototype to functional product, with opportunities to secure funding and get community feedback.

SwarmSafe is a concept for a product that utilizes frequency to repel wasps from the wearer. A 3D printed model was showcased to give an idea of how this product might look.

This walker is a prototype showcasing an electronic braking system for walkers. While some walkers already have this function, this product is intended to fill a gap in the market, as the automatic braking system isn’t typically found on non-motorized walkers.

This booth was selling a finished product in the form of custom laser-etched coasters. The public could walk up to the booth, provide their name, and then leave with a customized coaster minutes later.

This booth showcases a conceptual business that aims to link information, such as vaccinations, to cattle using RFID tags and blockchain technology. This picture shows the creator receiving feedback and answering questions.

Bianca Hamtig explains her product, InNAIT, to the public.

Bianca Hamtig is the creator and founder of InNAIT, a concept for an online marketplace that is entirely focused on NAIT. “This kind of event really helped me in fueling the innovation within me, because I never thought that an idea can spark into something that is concrete on a step one like this one,” said Hamtig.

The showcase wasn’t just seen as a success by the students. Dale Schaub, the Lead Entrepreneurship Consultant for the Mawji Centre, thinks the event was incredibly successful despite some problems that popped up. “We had over 300 people at this thing. It’s really hard to look at it and say anything other than that it was a screaming success, and then it very successfully highlighted some of the really cool student businesses.”

Among the public visitors was Ashif Mawji, whose million-dollar donation helped kickstart the founding of the Mawji Centre. Students had an opportunity to meet Mawji, and one student’s idea is being taken with him to be showcased on Dragons’ Den for a chance to receive funding.

Four booths are guaranteed to win funding through four prizes of $ 2,000. The prize categories are: