New Venture Competition opens with awareness event on Thursday
Although The New Venture Competition's main event in not until the spring, a kick off event to raise awareness will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday at the Events Center.
This is the second year for the competition, to be held March 30, which aims at rewarding entrepreneurial students.
This year, Michigan Technological University will be joining the competition and more than $46,000 will be awarded in cash and non-cash prizes.
NVC was started last year by Charles Crespy, dean of the College of Business Administration. He said his goal is to create an opportunity for students who have business start-up ideas to get them going, enriching the economic environment of Michigan and the careers of CMU students.
The purpose of Thursday's event is to get students interested in entering the competition. Students will have the opportunity to sign up and register for seminars, which are held every other Friday throughout the year before the competition.
“The goal is to not only train our students to be effective employees, but train them to start their own business,” Crespy said. “We want them to become the employers rather than job seekers.”
Crespy encourages any student across the curriculum with an idea for a new business to attend.
“Whether it be music, chemistry, biology, we encourage everyone to come out and check it out,” Crespy said.
Executive Director of Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship, Deb Zellner is in charge of putting the event together.
“(The competition) is one of the very few opportunities to host something for not only graduate students, but the whole university,” Zellner said.
Zellner said Thursday’s awareness event is an outstanding way to network with other individuals and learn from them.
While enjoying food and refreshments, students will be able to network with other students and business associates. They will also learn about the competition, hear from successful entrepreneur Ed Shaffer and participate in a Q-and-A session.
“I hope that after Thursday, students are energized to pursue competing in the competition and network with others that could become part of their team,” Zellner said.
