Kinz and Klomp's dreams are becoming a reality.
Mark Kinsman and Jamie Klomp, who host an entertainment show online, won the inaugural Win This Space competition hosted by the Downtown Timmins BIA.
The business recruitment initiative had local entrepreneurs submit a short video with a business pitch. From there, the field was narrowed down to semi-finalists who completed a series of free business development workshops from the Business Enterprise Centre.
The top five finalists — Kinz and Klomp, Zach Cassidy of Casa di Media, Melissa Silverson of Fancy Plants, Tim Jamieson with Sparks Pizza and Dawn Charette of Dawn's Sweets and Treats — pitched their business to judges in a Dragon's Den-style event on June 2.
The grand prize winner was revealed at the Dante Club on June 9. Kinz and Klomp have won a year's free rent downtown Timmins, along with other prizes, with the total value being about $45,000.
“It’s achieving our dreams. We really wanted to make this next transition to a studio space. We’ve had personal, professional goals and this is … overwhelming and it’s a real strong appreciation for this complete contest and everyone who believes in us,” said Klomp.
Kinz and Klomp started in December 2020.
Kinsman had been laid off from his role hosting the KiSS morning show. It was a round of cuts at Rogers that saw a number of on-air staff in Northern Ontario and across the country let go. At that time, Klomp was also in between jobs.
Kinsman was looking for another creative mind and ended up meeting his now business partner.
"We weren’t even friends until we met October of 2020. We never even knew each other,” said Kinsman.
What started as a podcast turned into three live shows on Facebook three times a week. They also host live events for local businesses and organizations.
Up until now, when they're not on location for an event they've recorded out of their respective homes.
“Being able to have professional studio and host people in-house and do entertainment shows and invite a live audience is a super exciting transition for us,” Klomp said.
In the next couple of months, they'll be launching new branding and start producing five shows a week in a talk show-style format.
“Being able to have a professional studio and host people in-house and do entertainment shows and invite a live audience is a super exciting transition for us,” said Klomp.
In everything they do, the duo tries to be fun, positive and energetic.
"Rarely on our show will we reflect the negative things going on in the world because you can go on social media and get all those conversations all the time. And our philosophy, if you’re a fan of old-school comedy, we base it off of Laurel and Hardy. Where Laurel and Hardy were people who made fun of themselves, not others,” he said.
Part of the agreement for the grand prize is that the winner has to open their space within three months, said Downtown Timmins BIA executive director Cindy Campbell.
Overall, she said the inaugural Win This Space contest has been amazing, with 18 entrepreneurs applying to the initial call-out.
"I’m so proud of the entrepreneurs, they’ve put so much work into this. The judges have been so careful about looking at every business plan so thoroughly to make sure they selected the person that should win Win This Space 2022,” she said.
“As a first run we really didn’t know what to expect, we didn’t know how many people we would have. We actually exceeded our expectations."
The feedback has been very positive. Organizers are also working to support all the entrepreneurs.
“There were people who submitted business plans but didn’t make it to the finals, but their ideas and their business plans just need a little bit of tweaking. The judges know and are going to be providing feedback to them one-on-one so that they can enter perhaps next year when we do this again,” she said.
