ACBC 2026 Recap

On April 11th, over 50 students from schools across the GTA walked into Appleby for a business competition. By the end of the day, most of them had revised their entire strategy at least once.

That was the point.

The Appleby College Business Competition (ACBC) returned this year with a case built around the Toronto Tempo, Canada's incoming WNBA expansion franchise. Teams had two preparation blocks to develop a business pitch for the Tempo, present it to industry judges in the preliminary round, and, for the three finalists, defend it in front of the full room during the afternoon finals. What made this year different wasn't the case. It was what happened mid-competition.

For the first time, ACBC introduced live crisis updates: real-world developments dropped into the competition while teams were still preparing. The first, released mid-morning, announced that Sephora Canada had paused all sports partnership activations following a corporate restructuring. The second, dropped after lunch, revealed that Lilly Singh was stepping back from her brand ambassador role with the Tempo. Both were fictional scenarios rooted in realistic business dynamics, and teams had no idea either was coming.

The effect was immediate. Teams that had spent the morning building out their sponsorship decks suddenly had to rethink their revenue models. Teams that had anchored their earned media strategy on celebrity amplification had to rebuild it from scratch. The room shifted. You could feel it.

"We wanted to mimic the pressure of actually working in business," said Arjun Kulkarni, one of the lead organizers. One competitor said that "the prompt was creative and relevant," aligning with the goal of making it real-world.

Teams that thrived were the ones who moved decisively at the beginning and bought themselves enough runway to absorb the crises without panicking. Teams that stalled early got hit harder. It was a lesson in time management that no workshop could have taught as effectively.

The other major shift this year was on technology. Unlike most academic competitions, ACBC 2026 explicitly permitted all AI and tech tools throughout the day, from preparation through pitching. The reasoning was simple: these are the tools students will actually use in business. Banning them doesn't make the competition more authentic. It makes it less.

The judges were all experienced industry leaders. A huge thank-you to Mr. Singhal, Ms. Booth, Ms. Stoneman, Ms. St George, Mr. Beatty, Mr. Bibeau, Ms. Ho, Mr. Mosam, Ms. Legiti, and Mr. Morley for your invaluable support as judges.

After the preliminary round, three teams advanced to the finals.

Cole and Keno took first place. Michael and Mingming finished second. Alexandra and Carolina placed third.

Beyond the competition itself, the day included workshops led by industry professionals, student initiative presentations from multiple schools during lunch, and performances coordinated through the Perform for a Smile network. Photography and media coverage was led by Jason and the media team, who produced a highlight video shown during the closing ceremony.

ACBC is student-run start to finish, and the volunteers from the Entrepreneurial Business Club kept things moving throughout a long, logistically complex day.

Let us know how we can make this even bigger next year.