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![\"Ruth](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4158566_web1_260421-Gateway-Winner-3--.jpg\")
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Ruth Bonneville \/ Free Press<\/p>\n
Aisha Bowe (right) speaks with Nancy Cooke of Campaign Compass on Tuesday at the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada, alongside U.S. consul Rebecca Molinoff (left).<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s amazing. The opportunity is huge for our company and we\u2019re just super excited,\u201d Cooke said.<\/p>\n
Cooke has managed Elm Park Dental, where her husband practises dentistry, for the last 25 years. She\u2019s also served as director of political operations and interim executive director with the Progressive Conservative Party of Winnipeg, and she\u2019s run for elected office in municipal and provincial elections.<\/p>\n
Her interests in business and politics came together in 2022, when she launched Campaign Compass, an all-in-one digital platform designed to streamline and enhance every aspect of political campaign management.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Political) campaigns are chaos,\u201d Cooke said during her pitch at the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada in Winnipeg. \u201cWe wanted to bring clarity to that chaos with one platform.\u201d<\/p>\n
The platform offers tools for communication, donation management, volunteer co-ordination and more. Campaign Compass offers flexible, customizable plans that start at $150 per month. The platform has more than 2,000 users, a number the company projects will reach 5,000 by Q3 this year, Cooke said.<\/p>\n
Users input data they collect from a campaign\u2019s audience, which translates into real-time analytics they can use to inform how the campaign is going and what their next move should be.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy personal belief, having run a political organization, is there is a heavy reliance on polling and social media, but you don\u2019t always know that you\u2019re talking to your voters \u2014 and that\u2019s the disconnect. My system was built so you know you\u2019re talking to your voters,\u201d Cooke said.<\/p>\n
Among Cooke\u2019s competitors were U-Pro Soccer, a sportstech company that blends player development, gaming and AI; PregEase, a non-hormonal, at-home fertility aid; and QDoc, a free virtual health-care service.<\/p>\n
The panel of judges included Aisha Bowe, an entrepreneur who has started two companies: STEMBoard, which provides advisory services to organizations in the U.S. government; and LINGO, an education technology company that develops STEM learning kits and curriculum<\/p>\n
Formerly a NASA rocket scientist, Bowe is a citizen astronaut who participated in the all-woman, 10-minute spaceflight operated by Blue Origin in April 2025.<\/p>\n
Debra Jonasson-Young, executive director for the Stu Clark Centre for Entrepreneurship at the University of Manitoba, and Whitney Morgan, director of operations at North Forge, joined Bowe on the panel.<\/p>\n
All seven pitches were \u201cfantastic,\u201d Bowe said. \u201cThey were innovative. You had technologies, many of which were either patent pending or awarded. It was incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Campaign Compass stood out because Cooke made a compelling case and is prepared to enter the U.S. market in the near term, Bowe added.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolitics is everywhere, and wanting to have data that is accurate and timely is also an issue. So to be able to solve that with a software tool that already has traction and was developed by somebody who\u2019s run for office just seems to be a perfect fit,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
SelectUSA Investment Summit is a U.S. federal government program that promotes foreign direct investment into the United States. It brings together investors, companies and economic developers from all over the world to explore opportunities.<\/p>\n
Joelle Foster, North Forge president, said her organization wanted to support a competition to send a Winnipeg startup to the summit because it\u2019s important to promote Canadian talent to U.S. investors.<\/p>\n
At a time when Canada and the U.S. are involved in a trade war, Foster hopes cultivating relationships between tech companies and investors from both countries can be part of the solution.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to keep the conversations going because this too shall pass and they are our neighbours,\u201d she said. \u201cLeadership changes, and when leadership changes, the people are still there. The business is still there. So you never want to cut anything off completely.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
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The U.S. Consulate in Winnipeg was \u201cthrilled\u201d to partner with North Forge on the pitch competition, U.S. consul Rebecca Molinoff said in an email. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe calibre of the pitches was incredible and we wish all the participants the best of luck as they grow their businesses,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Consulate in Winnipeg brought Bowe to Winnipeg for two days as part of its celebration of the 250th anniversary of its country\u2019s Declaration of Independence.<\/p>\n
Bowe made a number of appearances during her time in the city, including speaking to school groups and visiting Magellan Aerospace.<\/p>\n
aaron.epp@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n
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Aaron Epp Aaron Epp reports on business for the Free Press. After freelancing for the paper for a decade, he joined the staff full-time in 2024. Read more about Aaron<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Aaron produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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