ANN ARBOR ? The Great Lakes Entrepreneur?s Quest will close registration for its Fall Cycle Business Plan competition on November 29 with submission deadline for completed business plans on January 11.

GLEQ sponsors a statewide business plan competition with particular emphasis this year on Business Commercialization. The Quest is structured into two distinct maturity ?paths?: companies with more developed businesses compete in the Emerging Company path, while teams with new or less developed business ideas compete in the New Business Ideas path. Both EC and NBI plans are assessed by representatives from each of the state?s Venture Capitalist firms. Of highest value is the written feedback provided to the entrepreneurs.

?We?ve had an increased flow of entrepreneurs registering for the competition in recent weeks and want to ensure that teams have time to register and engage with GLEQ coaches before the plan submission deadline in January?, said Art DeMonte, GLEQ Executive Director.

Seventeen teams are already registered in the competition and have attended Entrepreneur?s Roundtable and been assigned experienced business coaches.

Emerging Company teams must complete and submit an 8 to 12 page business plan, while the New Business Ideas teams must develop and submit a five-page executive summary describing their business or business idea. GLEQ provides the help of coaches and educational programs to assist all entrepreneurs with their business plans. A cash award is given to the winner of the EC path in the spring, while additional cash and in-kind awards are provided to the EC and NBI winners.

GLEQ?s primary sponsors are the Ann and Carman Adams Fund of the Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan, Wayne State University, Apjohn Group, Southwest Michigan First, and Esperance BioVentures.

Founded in 2000, GLEQ has awarded $600,000 in prize money during the first four years of its annual business plan competition and provided more than a thousand hours of free training and coaching.

Additional information is available at GLEQ.Org or by calling Art DeMonte, Executive Director, at (734) 913-0090.