Northwest Iowa — A number of northwest Iowa entrepreneurs have moved to the next level in an entrepreneur contest.
According to Jesse Hinrichs with “Iowa’s West Coast Initiative,” earlier this month entrepreneurs submitted their idea to start or expand a business in The “BIG Challenge” grant competition and recruited family, friends, and customers to vote for their entry. Over 7,500 total votes were cast.
The top three vote-getters get to move on to the pitch competition, as do two additional entrants chosen by a selection committee. Hinrichs says these finalists will have the opportunity to present their idea to an audience and judges in a pitch event for a chance to win thousands in cash prizes.
He tells us the five finalists are: – Carroll Street Treats (Reece Vander Zee) of Rock Rapids, – WalkMemoryLane (Ashley Nwaokolo) of Sheldon, Roots Substance Abuse Counseling (Jonathan VanTuyl) of Sioux City, Ability Tech (Dustin Rhoades) of Sioux City, and S2B Fishing Supplies (Donita Stubbe) of Rock Rapids.
The economic development organizations in Northwest Iowa will host the pitch-off event on Thursday, November 17th at the Design West building (1014 Design Place) in Sioux City. During this time, each finalist will have a booth set up to showcase their business for attendees to visit. Each finalist will have six minutes to present their business, followed by five minutes of Q & A from the panel of judges.
Then the winners of the competition will be announced, with first place receiving $5,000, second place receiving $3,000, and third place receiving $2,000, to help grow their businesses.
The BIG Challenge is sponsored and organized by “Iowa’s West Coast Initiative” and Northwest Iowa Developers and includes Lyon, Monona, O’Brien, Osceola, Plymouth, Sioux and Woodbury counties. Siouxland Economic Development Corporation is also a sponsor of the event. The event is free and open to the public. Additional information about each entry and the finalists can be found by visiting contest.iawestcoast.com/the-big-challenge/.
