The deal was this: a Krispy Kreme doughnut in exchange for retail intel. Ugochi Owo sat at the back of Quantum Coffee on King St. W., handing out dozens of the baked treats.As Owo and her business collaborator Jeremy Tseung enticed about 200 people to share insights about their online shopping experience, one consistent theme emerged. Most customers hate the return process if a purchase doesn’t work out; items typically have to be shipped back and it could take weeks before a refund is processed.From that doughnut-fuelled research last summer, a plan materialized to reinvent the online return process to make it as expedient and hassle free as possible. Simplified, it involves customers conveniently dropping off returned goods locally, perhaps on their way to school or work. Customers are happy because they don’t pay for shipping and often get their money back quicker, and companies, which pay to use the service, see value because of increased profits and customer loyalty.Great idea but what could be done with it?Fast forward to present day and Owo is hunkered down at the Ryerson DMZ readying Flindel, the fledgling company that evolved out of those café interviews, for a pilot run in September.Owo is further developing her company as one of the first startups in the Black Innovation Fellowship (BIF), a program that helps black entrepreneurs in the tech sector. Owo’s startup is one of what will be between 10 and 25 companies in BIF’s first cohort.The DMZ is an internationally respected technology accelerator headquartered in a six-floor workspace overlooking Yonge-Dundas Square. It helps startups that show the potential to grow into significant companies through mentoring from industry-leading experts and connections to investors and researchers. It was jointly ranked as the world’s top business incubator managed by a university in 2018. That designation was made by UBI Global, a Swedish firm that measures and tracks the performa ...
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