Competition to award $5K for best social entrepreneurship idea
Got an idea to improve life in New Orleans? Enter the 2010 PitchNOLA competition and you could win $5,000 to help make that idea a reality.
PitchNOLA is an elevator-pitch competition for ventures designed to effect positive social or environmental change in New Orleans. Now in its second year, the competition gives local social entrepreneurs the chance to pitch their ideas to a panel of celebrity judges and a live audience of more than 200 business professionals, social activists and community members. This year, a cash prize of $5,000 will be awarded to the entrepreneur or team of entrepreneurs with the most innovative idea, but all the participants will benefit from the opportunity to promote their ventures, get feedback on their presentations and make valuable connections with potential partners and investors.
The 2010 PitchNOLA competition will take place at on Wednesday, Nov. 17, at 6 p.m. in the Woldenberg Art Center's Freeman Auditorium on Tulane University’s uptown campus. Individuals or teams interested in participating must submit a 500-word proposal online at www.seno-nola.org no later than Friday, Oct. 15, 2010. Anyone interested in attending PitchNOLA as an audience member can also reserve a seat by visiting www.seno-nola.org.
The best 10 to 15 proposals received by PitchNOLA will be invited to participate in the live competition at Tulane, and those individuals or teams will also receive coaching from Chris Schultz, founder of Voodoo Ventures and co-founder of LaunchPad, and Ralph Maurer, visiting assistant professor of management at Tulane’s A. B. Freeman School of Business.
“Over the past five years, we’ve seen a growing interest in solving societal problems through entrepreneurship,” says Andrea Chen of Social Entrepreneurs of New Orleans (SENO), one of the event’s sponsors. “With PitchNOLA, we aim to bring creative, innovative minds together and connect them with supporters and resources in the community.”
Chris Williams, president of the Tulane Entrepreneurs Association, adds, “Through events like PitchNOLA, we think we can encourage the growth of innovative small businesses, and those businesses are key to keeping Tulane graduates and entrepreneurs in the New Orleans area.”
PitchNOLA is sponsored by Social Entrepreneurs of New Orleans (SENO), the Tulane Entrepreneurs Association, Tulane Social Entrepreneurship Initiatives, the A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane, and the Young Leadership Council.
For more information about the competition, visit http://www.seno-nola.org.
