Business plan contest boosts top prizes to $165,000

PROVIDENCE – Support from new sponsors has allowed the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition to increase its top prizes for college students and entrepreneurs to $165,000 rather than the previous $150,000, contest organizers said today.
Providence-based Shazamm – an award-winning interactive agency – is the most recent organization to come aboard as a sponsor for the 2008 competition, bringing the total to 34. The agency will provide Web-site design services to the winners in the entrepreneur and student tracks.
“The level of support from across the spectrum of community organizations is truly impressive,” competition co-chair Garrett B. Hunter, president of the Business Development Company of Rhode Island, said in a statement today. It “demonstrates the value they place on encouraging the development of new companies in Rhode Island.”
New for 2008 is a high school track, announced last month, that will have a top prize of $1,000. (READ MORE)
“What young entrepreneurs need more than anything else is capital and advice,” added co-chair Charles Kingdon, associate vice president of Brown technology partnerships at Brown University. “The Rhode Island Business Plan Competition helps on both counts, since the prizes to be awarded include cash and in-kind legal, accounting and consulting services.”
A free workshop on how to develop financial projections – a key part of any business plan – is slated for Jan. 9. The workshop is open to the public, including high school students, as are the contests’ additional business planning workshops scheduled through March.
Additional information on the 2008 Rhode Island Business Plan Competition – including contest rules and guidelines, application procedures and business-planning resources – is available at www.ri-bizplan.com.