{"id":2936,"date":"2013-03-14T10:28:18","date_gmt":"2013-03-14T15:28:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/?p=2936"},"modified":"2013-06-27T18:07:57","modified_gmt":"2013-06-27T23:07:57","slug":"speed-gaming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/?p=2936","title":{"rendered":"Speed-Gaming"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

ANASTASIA PHILOPOULOS<\/p>\n

Ashley Cabecinha and Ka Lei Ku of The Meeple’s Republic.<\/span> When Ashley Cabecinha and Ka Lei Ku decided to start their own company, they were prepared for long days, money woes and the general risk that comes with business. What they weren\u2019t prepared for was the overwhelming support from Ottawa\u2019s entrepreneurial community.<\/span><\/p>\n

The young women have launched The Meeple\u2019s Republic, a social event company that uses board games as a way to get people interacting. Last month, the Ottawa based company hosted its first event in Ottawa.<\/p>\n

They call it speed gaming.<\/p>\n

In groups of four to six, guests play various board games for 30 minutes at a time and in between games, food and drinks are served. The event was $30 a person and was hosted at The Hub Ottawa, a creative industrial space where entrepreneurs can work and network.<\/p>\n

BOARD GAMES<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really big on board games because we really want people to get out and meet people and have fun and do a lot of face to face.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Cabecinha, The Meeple\u2019s unique take on social interaction became a reality due in large part to the love and support from Ottawa\u2019s entrepreneurial community.<\/p>\n

The local chapter of the Awesome Foundation awarded the two young women $1000 in January. Each month, the foundation\u2019s local chapters award $1000 to a worthy project, event or cause in an effort to spread general awesomeness in the world. Trustees at the local level each donate $100 and vote on proposals from the community. There are no strings attached and the Awesome Foundation claims no ownership over any project they choose to support.<\/p>\n

Trustee Jesse Kaunisviita says Awesome Ottawa chose The Meeple\u2019s Republic because their idea was well thought out and unique. And while it\u2019s not part of the charity\u2019s mandate to support local business, Kaunisviita says many of its members are entrepreneurs themselves. \u201cI think we\u2019re all very sensitive to the fact that empowering a local entrepreneur is going to do more for Ottawa in the long run,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

BUSINESS KICK-START\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Meeple\u2019s Republic used the money from Awesome Ottawa to kick-start their business and run their first event. Cabecinha and Ku were thrilled to get the local charity\u2019s financial backing but it was their particular brand of encouragement that was most appreciated. \u201cThe fact that they\u2019re willing to give us their money has sort of given us the confidence to really go with this,\u201d Cabecinha says. \u201c<\/strong>It was the catalyst that made this February 13 event a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then, the momentum has not slowed. Local businesses and entrepreneurs have offered the girls advice, encouragement and even a helping hand.<\/p>\n

The Piggy\u2019s Market and Macarons & Madeleines made the delicious treats for the evening, while local microbrewery Beyond the Pale provided the beers. The Comic Book Shoppe donated prizes and World Famous Music DJ\u2019ed the event. \u201cThe vendors that we\u2019re working with, they\u2019re sort of doing us a big favor,\u201d says Cabecinha. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to put your product forward and let someone else showcase it for you,\u201d says Cabecinha.<\/p>\n

GAME SUMMIT<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of The Meeple\u2019s biggest supporters is UniForge, an Ottawa based branding and advertising company. Last month, UniForge held their annual Game Summit, where casual to hardcore gamers came together to see what was new in the world of games; board and otherwise. The Meeple\u2019s Republic was offered a display table and even time to host a mini speed gaming event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think collaboration has always been important,\u201d says Marquis C\u00f4t\u00e9, owner of UniForge. \u201cAs an entrepreneur you always have the feeling like you want to share your story and you want to help other people that are just starting out.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Industry Canada, only half of Canadian small businesses survive their first five years.\u00a0 C\u00f4t\u00e9 says surrounding yourself with a community of people who can guide you and generally offer mentorship is vital to strengthening a homegrown business.<\/p>\n

Cabecinha could not agree more and adds that collaboration is essential to her business, as well as the greater entrepreneurial community. The young entrepreneur says the Meeple\u2019s Republic will host local product, food and beer at its events, whenever possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cA huge part of our business model is showcasing the things in Ottawa that we love. They are what makes Ottawa awesome and we want to make sure that Ottawa continues to be awesome and grows towards greater awesome-ness.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ANASTASIA PHILOPOULOS Ashley Cabecinha and Ka Lei Ku of The Meeple’s Republic. When Ashley Cabecinha and Ka Lei Ku decided<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[93,148,147,153,150,152,151,149],"class_list":["post-2936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-anastasia-philopoulos","tag-ashley-cabecinha","tag-awesome-foundation","tag-beyond-the-pale","tag-ka-lei-kuthe-meeples-republic","tag-macarons-madeleines","tag-piggys-market","tag-speed-gaming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2936"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3487,"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2936\/revisions\/3487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}