New Venture Competition will showcase student business ideas Friday
Thirty teams of potential entrepreneurs will face off at Central Michigan University’s College of Business and the Isabella County Bank’s second New Venture Competition Friday.
The all-day competition offers the chance for the best student entrepreneurial business ideas to win up to $55,000 in start-up funds. It will begin at 8 a.m. in the Education and Human Services Building and move to the Events Center at 6 p.m. for judging and awards.
“This year, CMU is partnering with Michigan Technological University, which is a result of a $25,000 grant from Michigan Initiative for Innovation and Entrepreneurship CMU recently received,” said Kathy Backus, assistant director of public relations for University Communications.
Aside from granting money to a few budding young businesses, the competition showcases CMU's coolest start-ups, Backus said. Some teams are in the idea stage and others are already established businesses.
Plymouth senior Brynn Good has sold items from her vintage clothing and accessories shop, Bib and Tucker Vintage, to people in places as far as Australia using the online Etsy shop platform.
“Sustainability through reuse is really important to me and vintage provides an eco-friendly clothing option,” Good said.
Her pitch for the competition is to win the money for opening a store.
“I think the biggest thing that I’m going to get out of this is the work that I’ve already done in preparing a business plan and preparing a presentation,” she said. “I think it makes you think about every aspect of your business and it really makes you realize how much money is going to go into it and how much time that will go into it.”
There will be a lot of enthusiasm and anxious students, said Debra Zellner, Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship executive director.
“The intent is to have people with different types of expertise along with the faculty you reach out to on a daily basis to really help students build their business and create jobs in Michigan,” Zellner said. “I can’t think of a better place to be on Friday. It’s a great place to hear the coolest ideas in Michigan.”
