PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island Business Plan Competition, citing “changes in the general business environment,” has pared its estimate of prizes available to 2009 contestants, who have until April 6 to submit their completed applications.
This year’s contest “will award approximately $125,000” in cash and services, they said. That is one-sixth less than the $150,000 they had predicted in September (READ MORE) and 38 percent less than the $170,000 in “prize winnings” distributed in 2008, when the contest added a high-school track. (READ MORE)
But organizers stressed that the contest still offers “one of the richest sets of prizes among such competitions.”
“Nearly everyone is facing revenue pressure – and the competition is no exception,” said Garrett B. Hunter, a competition co-chair and the president of the Business Development Company of Rhode Island (BCDRI) that founded the contest in 2000.
This year’s contest will be conducted in two tracks – entrepreneur and student – with prizes going to the winner and two runners-up in each track.
A panel of local judges will weigh the entries, which now may be completed online (https://apply.ri-bizplan.com) via a tool developed by Pawtucket-based Embolden Design. “This online submission capability will help people develop their applications over time by letting them save their work until they are ready to submit,” Hunter said in January in announcing the new option. (READ MORE)
Six semi-finalists in each track will be invited to submit full business plans; three finalists per track will then be selected, based on those plans, to make their pitches in person. Winners will be announced May 5, during the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce Business Expo 2009.
“The actual dollar value of the winnings has always been secondary to the recognition and credibility that accrues to the winners and finalists,” added David Mitchell, a contest co-chair and the dean of the College of Business at Johnson & Wales University (JWU). “Participating in the competition is the true reward.”
Moreover, Hunter added, “many local organizations continue to value the competition as an important catalyst for local entrepreneurship, and are generously supporting it.”
The 2009 contest has the support of 32 businesses, colleges and universities, nonprofits and public agencies, down from 35 last year. Sponsors highlighted by the organizers include Hinckley, Allen & Snyder LLP; Kahn, Litwin, Renza & Co. Ltd.; Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP; Embolden Design; Johnson & Wales University, which this year joins the BCDRI as a co-organizer; and Nortek Inc.
Rhode Island's Market Has Changed. Developers, Builders, Investors and Sellers Must Change With It.
By Emilio DiSpirito IV License Partner | Engel & Völkers Oceanside Leader | The DiSpirito…
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Additional information about the 2009 Rhode Island Business Plan Competition – including contest rules and guidelines, application procedures and business-planning resources – is available from the nonprofit Business Development Company of Rhode Island (BCDRI) at www.ri-bizplan.com.
