FALL RIVER – Three local women took home the top awards at a pitch contest hosted by Entrepreneurship For All South Coast on April 5, the first time in the contest’s history that all three cash prizes have gone to women entrepreneurs.
The contest, held in Fall River as part of a series of events in the lead-up to EforAll’s summer accelerator program, pitted eight local entrepreneurs and their business ideas against one another. Each contestant presented a two-and-a-half-minute pitch to a panel of industry experts, conveying the genesis of their idea, their target market or clientele, the idea’s sustainability as a business and how they planned to use the prize money if they won.
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The panel of judges scored each entrepreneur’s pitch on the clarity of the business idea and quality of the pitch, in addition to offering feedback on how to improve their presentations.
The judges included Catherine Dillon, senior vice president of marketing and business development at BankFive; Christopher Antao, founder of Gnome Surf and Gnome Create in Fall River; Raena Camacho, vice president of Mother Nature Hydroponics in Warwick; and Peter Karlson, founder and CEO of NeuEon Inc. in Newton, Mass.
Twelve entrepreneurs in total attended the pitch contest, and eight competed for cash prizes. Contestants pitched business ideas ranging from a balloon photo booth to a system for detecting marijuana impairment.
Judges awarded the event’s grand prize of $1,000 to Natalie Thompson for The Peyton Co., an organic beauty and wellness company based in Seekonk, with a focus on socially and environmentally responsible products.
The second-place award of $750 went to Erin Babbitt, owner of Swansea-based Stony Creek Farm, who also took home the event’s $500 fan favorite award. Alicia Vitorino of Hearts of Hope Inc., a community organization in Fall River providing homeless individuals with food, hygiene items and other necessities, won the $500 third-place prize.
EforAll South Coast’s next pitch contest will be held Thursday, April 20, at the Global Learning Charter School in New Bedford. EforAll events are free to attend.
Headquartered in Lowell, Mass., Entrepreneurship For All is a small business and nonprofit accelerator with a focus on economic and social impact through entrepreneurship in mid-sized cities. In addition to Lowell and Fall River, EforAll has Massachusetts locations in New Bedford, Lawrence and Lynn.
Finalists to the EforAll Accelerator Program receive three months of mentorship and weekly workshops, access to technical experts and the opportunity to compete for $30,000 in cash prizes to launch their businesses.
The deadline to apply to the 2017 EforAll Summer Accelerator Program is April 23. For more information, visit eforall.org.
Kaylen Auer is a PBN contributing writer.
