Get Herald RSSEntrepreneurs and college students will no longer be the only ones cashing in on the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition.
Organizers of the competition announced Monday that a high school track will be added to next year's contest. The competition awards about $150,000 in cash prizes each year to the best plans for starting businesses in Rhode Island.
Rhode Island high school students are allowed to compete for the $1,000 high school prize, which will be awarded for the first time this May.
Thirty-three sponsors, including local businesses, the University and the Brown Forum for Enterprise, fund the competition, which has been held annually since 2000. In the past it has only included a track for university students and an entrepreneur track for any de facto or would-be entrepreneurs.
The high school track is being added next year because at least one high school student expressed interest in entering the competition, said Competition Co-chair and Garrett Hunter '60, president of the Business Development Company of Rhode Island and a former Herald business staffer.
Individuals and groups must submit applications by April 7. The competition usually receives roughly 50 proposals in total, Hunter said, out of which six semifinalists are picked for each track. The semifinalists then submit detailed business plans by April 22 - including an executive summary, a company description, an industry analysis, an analysis of target markets, a description of its management structure, sales strategy, plans of operations and financial and risk analysis. From that pool, three finalists will be selected. On May 6, the finalists will make presentations and the winners will be announced at the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce's Business Expo.
The winning individual or team in each track agrees to establish their operations in Rhode Island. Proposals may relate to any area of commerce as long as they are the original work of those making the submissions.
The competition will also sponsor three workshops to help anyone interested in applying to the competition hone their entrepreneurial skills. The events will cover how to develop financial projections and how to write and present a business plan.
The first is scheduled for Jan. 9 from 5-7 p.m. at the Culinary Archives and Museum at Johnson & Wales University's Harborside Campus in Providence.
