January 30, 2013

Lewis & Clark announces entrepreneurship competition for students, alumni

Lewis & Clark students and recent alumni are invited to share their ideas for an innovative nonprofit organization, social venture, or for-profit enterprise in a new entrepreneurship competition.

Lewis & Clark students and recent alumni are invited to share their ideas for an innovative nonprofit organization, social venture, or for-profit enterprise in a new entrepreneurship competition.

“This year, Lewis & Clark will establish a new entrepreneurship center to serve as a hub of innovation and collaboration for our entire community, and our first major initiative is this generously funded venture competition,” said Brian Detweiler-Bedell, acting academic director of entrepreneurship. “For the competition, all entrepreneurial ventures are welcome, whether they are nonprofit or for-profit, ideas that are just being brainstormed, or projects that are recently underway.”

Teams of students from any of Lewis & Clark’s three schools and recent alumni from the classes of 2011 and 2012 are invited to submit an initial application to participate by Friday, February 15. The application consists of two parts: a two-page executive summary of the team’s proposed venture, and a short biography for each team member.

Based on the application, up to 10 teams will be selected to develop business plans with the support of both an entrepreneurial mentor and a faculty mentor. These teams will participate in a series of workshops to help them learn more about what it takes to develop and launch their ventures, and they will have the opportunity to request up to $1,000 to kick-start their planning efforts.

In April, the teams will pitch their business plans to a panel of judges, who will select up to five teams to receive continued mentoring and further seed funding to support their ventures during the summer. Next fall, the competition will culminate in a last round of presentations by the finalists, and funding of up to $30,000 will be made available to the two most promising ventures.

Entrepreneurship at Lewis & Clark