NEW: 2014 RI Business Plan Competition to Kick Off on Oct. 16

NEW: 2014 RI Business Plan Competition to Kick Off on Oct. 16

Organizers of the 2014 Rhode Island Business Plan Competition have announced that this year's festivities will kick off on Wednesday, Oct. 16 at Betaspring, 95 Chesnut St., Providence from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Open to the public, this event will introduce and explain the 2014 competition and feature the winners of the 2013 Competition, who will explain how they did it, which enabled them to share more than $200,000 in prizes.

Although the competition is free, organizers are asking that participants pre-register for the Kick-Off event. Click here to register via Facebook or email. Registration ends October 16, 2013 4:30 p.m.

Details

This year's competition is organized along two tracks, a Student Track for people enrolled in college or graduate school, and an Entrepreneur Track for everyone else, whether or not they already have started a business.

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Student Track

The Student Track is open to any student enrolled in and attending an accredited college or university at the undergraduate or graduate level. All key members of the team must be students.

Students should submit their idea; it should not be a business proposed by a professor who is looking for students to run with it. Students may rely on professors, as well as anyone else, as advisors.

Entrepreneur Track

The Entrepreneur Track is open to anyone, aged 18 or over. While applicants do not have to be Rhode Island residents, to be selected as a semi-finalist, applicants must agree to establish or continue business operations in Rhode Island should they be named a finalist or winner.

Applicants may submit an idea for early stage, or seed stage, company. This typically is a business proposal at the inventor stage where there is an idea, a concept, or even a product, but little or no income.

About the Competition

The Rhode Island Business Plan Competition is the leading community-supported business plan competition in the Northeast, supported by private businesses, colleges and universities, public entities, and nonprofit organizations.

Founded in 2000 by Garrett Hunter, then president of the Business Development Company of Rhode Island, the Competition aims to further develop the entrepreneurial spirit in Rhode Island and help create growth companies that will increase local employment.