Contact:
Bob O’Donnell, Director, Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Small Business Development Center, UW-Oshkosh (920) 424-1456 or odonnelr@uwosh.edu
Steve Jenkins, CEcD, President Fond du Lac County Economic Development Corporation (920) 929-2063 or steve@fcedc.com
It’s time to act on your business idea now, according to the Fond du Lac County Economic Development Corporation (FCEDC), and the Northeast Wisconsin Regional Economic Partnership.
Aspiring entrepreneurs and existing businesses may now submit applications for the Northeast Wisconsin Business Plan Contest which begins on August 15th. To enter, simply go to newrep2012.istart.org and set up an account.
The annual contest awards a total of $20,000 in cash prizes with the top prize being $10,000. Rhonda Horvath, owner of RagSpun Studio LLC, in Brandon and an FCEDC client, won second place and $6,000 in last year’s contest.
To enter the contest, entrepreneurs need to simply submit a 250-word Business Concept Statement that addresses four topics: product/service description, customer definition, market opportunity-sales strategy, and competition.
FCEDC can provide all necessary information about entering the contest to anyone who is interested. Once an application is approved, the first round of the contest will require contestants to submit a Business Idea Abstract describing their business idea or plans.
The abstract is a maximum 1,000-word document that includes the following sections and topics: company overview, product/service description, customer definition, market opportunity, competition, management team, financial highlights, and capital needs.
Contestants are required to review their abstracts with a NEWREP member, like the FCEDC, prior to submission.
The top 20 contestants in the business idea abstract round will then be asked to write and submit a full Business Plan that addresses the same topics in more detail. The first place winners in 2011 were Peter Nugent and Dana Van Den Heuvel, of The Docking Station, in Green Bay, who received $10,000 for their business idea.
FCEDC offers services to assist entrepreneurs in developing a business plan which is a critical tool in the proper planning and launch of new ventures and are the preferred mode of communication between entrepreneurs, innovators and potential investors.
The goal of the Northeast Wisconsin Business Plan Contest is to encourage the preparation of quality business plans for start-up businesses, significant changes to existing businesses, or new products in northeast Wisconsin. For more information about the contest or the Northeast Wisconsin Regional Economic Partnership (NEWREP) go to http://www.thenewnorth.com/thenewnorth/newrep.
