Founders Lianna Genovese, left, Ibukun Elebute and Shari van de Pol at the 2025 Odlum Brown Forum Pitch Finale.Jamie-Lee Fuoco
It’s hard not to be awed after speaking with Lianna Genovese for 15 minutes. Effervescent and eloquent, the 25-year-old founder and CEO of ImaginAble Solutions in Hamilton, Ont., knows how to generate excitement for her company’s mission: developing assistive technology for people with hand disabilities.
ImaginAble’s main product, Guided Hands, helps users with limited hand mobility draw, paint, write and use touch screens.
“I have stories of such beautiful moments – moms crying tears of joy watching their child write and draw for the first time,” she says. “These are life-changing moments that get me through every obstacle and challenge, seeing the smiles on people’s faces and when their eyes light up.”
Guided Hands enables individuals with limited fine motor skills to write, paint, draw and access technology.ImaginableSolutions.com
Ms. Genovese was one of three finalists chosen from hundreds of applicants to be celebrated at the 2025 Odlum Brown Forum Pitch Finale, an 800-seat gala held in Vancouver this spring. Hosted by national charity The Forum, the annual event helps women entrepreneurs access investors and strategic connections across the country. The top three finalists received $44,420 each, while Ms. Genovese also won the Audience Choice Award and an additional $20,000.
Inspired to create Guided Hands after meeting a woman with cerebral palsy who could no longer paint due to spasticity and weakness in her hands, Ms. Genovese started her company at 19 as an undergrad at McMaster University, running six 3D printers out of her parents’ basement. Today, the company employs eight and continues to grow.
Home-grown innovation in uncertain times
Kirsten Koppang Telford, CEO at The Forum, says getting entrepreneurs like Ms. Genovese in front of angel investors and corporate partners is vital – not just for the entrepreneurs, but for the country. As economic ties with the United States become more volatile, Canada needs home-grown innovation more than ever, she says.
A recent federal government report stated that equal participation between men and women in entrepreneurship could increase Canada’s GDP by $150-billion. “Different people solve different kinds of problems,” Ms. Koppang Telford says. “Imagine having as many women in the room as men – what that could do for the potential of this country when we need it.”
Finalist Ibukun Elebute of CELLECT Laboratories proves the point. The health technology startup based in Kitchener, Ont., is developing a method to collect menstrual blood for cervical and gynecological testing using nanomaterials – potentially replacing Pap smears.
Co-founder and COO Ms. Elebute recalls the pitch contest audience’s reaction when she held up a speculum. There were gasps, squirms and nods. She calls the tool a “medieval-looking torture device.”
“Menstrual blood is a diagnostic fluid that has been ignored. We already use urine, sweat and poop. I mean, does it get any grosser than that?” she asks. “But bring up menstrual blood and it’s so stigmatized – when it could be a gold mine.”
Much of her job is simply educating investors, many of whom are men and may not realize how outdated and invasive cervical cancer screening can be. And while it’s still early days for the company – with a few interns supporting tech development and preparing for funding – Ms. Elebute envisions a future where non-invasive cancer screening is globally accessible.
“We realize how important it is to change the narrative,” she says. “We’re taking this very seriously.”
Moneyball for milk production
Shari van de Pol is equally serious about innovation, although her approach involves algorithms, sensors – and cows. As founder and CEO of CATTLEytics, near Ancaster, Ont., Dr. van de Pol earned her finalist position by giving dairy farmers what they want most: more time with their cows and less time on a computer.
On a Zoom call, she shares her screen and pulls up the company’s app.
“It’s kind of like Facebook for cows,” she jokes, before invoking the film Moneyball, in which professional baseball team the Oakland A’s used statistics to build a better roster. “We use the same principle so farmers can build a dream team of bovines for the next season.”
The system tracks milk production, health and treatment to reduce unnecessary antibiotics. It also supports multilingual farm teams by translating notes and building colour-coded staff schedules. It’s an AI-powered, all-in-one dairy management platform.
Dr. van de Pol’s company, which now employs 16, began as a dairy consulting firm. The pivot to software came in 2021. But she’s used to taking hard turns. After shadowing a large animal vet for three years over a decade ago, she left a lucrative career with IBM, craving work that included more than a seat by the window and wall-to-wall carpeting. Not surprising, perhaps, for an engineering grad who minored in fine arts and plays the fiddle.
But it was Dr. van de Pol’s pandemic project – designing a sustainable “treehouse” cottage that became a social media sensation – that gave her the pluck to, er, milk an untapped agritech opportunity.
“Seeing how wildly successful the cottage became gave me courage to try,” she says. “When you have one success, there’s momentum.”
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Stacie Campbell/The Globe and Mail