ANN ARBOR ? Great Lakes Entrepreneur’s Quest business-plan contest, a staple on the Michigan entrepreneurial scene for eleven years, will continue for at least three more years thanks to a $1.1 million investment by the Michigan Strategic Fund.

The GLEQ award was part of the $25 million given in July to eight organizations that support entrepreneurs in launching and growing start-up companies throughout the state. GLEQ?s award is for $360,000 a year, up from the $300,000 a year given the business-plan competition three years ago. The extra money will be used by Diane Durance, the executive director, to hire a full-time program manager, she said.

How all the money will be used won?t be determined until the contract is signed by the state, she said. The Michigan Economic Development Corp. will determine each budget category. Durance said she expects to get the details in mid to late September. The timing works well because the GLEQ strategic service provider grants ends Aug. 31.

?We?re ending one grant and beginning the next one,? she said.

The fall GLEQ competition opens Aug. 22. Without the Michigan Strategic Fund?s investment in GLEQ, the contest may very well have ended in June, when $250,000 in cash prizes were awarded.

?The funding helps us keep everything we?ve developed over the last 11 year,? Durance said. ?We get to continue to work with all the volunteers. I?ve been at my job for three-and-half years, but there were a lot of people who came before me. There have been a lot of people involved with GLEQ.?

With a fresh competition starting in two weeks, Durance will begin to recruit some new coaches for the competitors. She?s also making plans to continue GLEQ?s support of BoostMichigan around the state, informal Pitch Night opportunities to get in front of coaches and mentors that will help you prepare for investor presentations.

GLEQ also will continue to support the New Enterprise Forum in Ann Arbor, as well as the MichBio Expo and ACE in January 2012 ? the Annual Celebration of Entrepreneurship that brings together entrepreneurs, service providers, investors, students, government agents, and other members of the business community to network, learn, and connect.

Durance said she was optimistic GLEQ would get the funding it sought. But she reasoned that it would be easier for a well established program, like GLEQ, to get funded over many of the new programs that were proposed by other organizations.

?I think it is perceived as having very good value for the money the state invests in it,? she said. ?Plan B was to find an organization to run the program itself. I?m very glad we?re not losing any momentum. We can continue to go ahead full speed.?

To register for the fall competition, click on GLEQ.Org

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