Ted Rogers School startup represents TMU at Hult Prize competition in Montreal
Congratulations to Ted Rogers School of Management students Swaraj Bhowmick and Jimmy Tang for finishing top six in the Hult Canada Prize in Montreal for their start-up RecAbility.
RecAbility (external link, opens in new window) , aims to solve a gap in the sports market by creating physical activity and recreational products for those with limited-strength disabilities. Bhowmick is the founder of the company and Tang is the Marketing Communication Officer.
The Hult Prize (external link, opens in new window) is an annual, globally recognized, social entrepreneurship competition that challenges young people to solve pressing issues through innovative business ideas. Each year, more than 187,000 students from 113 countries and 1,324 universities, compete to pitch their solutions, with the grand prize of $1 million awarded to the winning team to help bring their idea to life. To participate, students must first qualify by competing in local competitions through the OnCampus Program. Winners of local competitions then move on to compete in national events.
After winning three start-up competitions at TMU (including the 2024 Slaight New Venture Competition), Bhowmick was invited to take part in the Hult Canada Prize on March 28-29, 2025 at McGill University in Montreal. The Ted Rogers Students’ Society (external link) (TRSS) and the Dean’s Circle helped support the travel costs to participate in the event.
A total of 19 startups from various universities around Canada took part in the competition. Bhowmick and Tang won the first day of the competition, and were named to the top six finalists. On the second day, they lost in the finals.
“It was an amazing experience being in the room with so many other inspiring startups,” says Bhowmick. “The consensus feedback was that our presentation was the best out of everyone’s, which is a testament to our learnings at the Ted Rogers School. People loved our idea, but I believe our prototypes needed to be a bit further along for us to advance.”
“Thank you for everyone's support in both preparing us and helping us get there with travel and accommodations,” he adds. “I think that we represented TMU well, and I hope we made the university proud.”
“The Ted Rogers School is dedicated to expanding experiential learning opportunities for our students, and we were proud to help send Swaraj and Jimmy to Montreal to compete in this prestigious event,” says Cynthia Holmes, Dean, Ted Rogers School. “Congratulations on a great showing and for representing our school and the university so well!”
