LANSING ? Great Lakes Entrepreneur’s Quest has a new business competition that will award a cash prize of $100,000 in June.
At a packed Annual Collaboration for Entrepreneurship, hosted this year at Skyline High School in Ann Arbor rather than as year’s past at Washtenaw Community College, Ned Staebler, a Michigan Economic Development Corp. vice president, announced the award, which comes from the return earned on investments made by the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund. The first award will be presented June 10.
The GLEQ competition is open to all Michigan entrepreneurs that register to participate by March 5, but selection to compete for the SmartZone Award requires a SmartZone sponsor. Business plans are due April 23 for the SmartZone Award and May 7 for the New Business Idea and Emerging Company categories. Top prizes are: $5,000 in New Business Idea, $25,000 in Emerging Company and now the $100,000 pre-seed investment in the SmartZone Award category.
“The SmartZone Award is an investment that fills an important gap for ventures ready for pre-seed funding,” said Fund Manager Skip Simms. “It promotes relationships between emerging companies and the SmartZones and establishes an on-going relationship between the winning venture and the SmartZone Network. The winning venture is not required to have an investor match to qualify for the award, which opens the competition to companies that may not meet the funding requirements of the Pre-Seed Capital Fund.”
GLEQ Executive Director Diane Durance said she welcomes this new SmartZone partnership.
“Every entrepreneur joining GLEQ to vie for this prize will benefit through connections with Michigan’s SmartZone Network of support services and advisors, meeting investors, and having real-world feedback on their plans,” she said.
GLEQ sponsors a statewide business plan competition twice each year. The competition accommodates ventures in various stages of development. Entrepreneurs with new business concepts compete in the New Business Idea category. Ventures in the early launch phases and those with grant income and customer revenue compete in the Emerging Company category. Ventures working with SmartZone advisors and seeking seed funding, can compete for the $100,000 SmartZone Award. Other awards, including Innovation Awards in Advanced Manufacturing and Alternative Energy and Regional Awards are also presented.
GLEQ leverages a portfolio of 185 volunteer business and investment experts to provide training, coaching, mentoring and judging. GLEQ was a past recipient of a 21st Century Jobs Fund Grant and current operations are funded by a Strategic Service Provider Grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. GLEQ award sponsors including Automation Alley, NextEnergy, Southwest Michigan First, University of Michigan Zell-Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, and Quantum Ventures.
For more information, click on GLEQ.Org
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