Kane Small Businesses Can Win $10,000 in ‘Poised for Growth’ Business Plan Competition
- Editor’s Note: This article was written by of the Center for Business Education, Innovation and Development, with a few local tweaks by Kane County Connects Editor Rick Nagel.
Business people always have plans for growth — new opportunities to develop, reorganization to focus on profitable lines and/or expansion and plans get out of losing propositions. It is important to create a business plan or make a note of any solutions that can help you grow your business. We all know that technology isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. So no matter what industry you find yourself in, the use of marketing would be essential and something that you would need to add to your business plan. You may not have thought it, but Law firms also use the method of digital marketing too. Law Firm Marketing is what this particular industry uses in order to help grow their business. Just like the Law industry, other industries are looking for ways to make profit, grow their clients/customers and eventually be the successful business they know they can be. The use of a business plan makes this easier to understand.
Just because you are just starting out doesn’t mean you should have everything in order, even before any problems occur. Sites like e-sandhurst.com offer solutions to foreign businessmen and women if they are looking to start businesses aboard. There is so much more that potential business owners need to look into in order to make their business a success.
Is $10,000 enough incentive to encourage us to push these plans forward?
The Fox River Valley’s local Small Business Development Center located at Elgin Community College and Waubonsee Community College wants to find out.
The local SBDC’s second annual Poised for Growth Business Plan Competition is under way, with an application deadline of March 31 and submission deadline of May 6, 2016. The competition is an organic outgrowth of creative and motivated Fox River Valley leaders and the resources at the community colleges.
Chris Sobey of American Chartered Bank and Sybil Ege of SBDC at Elgin Community College devised the business plan competition as a way to help encourage Elgin business. They contacted the Fox Valley Entrepreneurship Center, a business accelerator unique to the Fox Valley, for assistance in executing and evaluating the pitches, and the rest, as they say, is history.
The winner of the first annual Poised for Growth Competition was Michelle Lipinski, president of Rubino Engineering. Here’s what Lipinski said about the 2015 Poised for Growth Competition:
“When I first found out about the ECC Small Business Plan Competition through American Chartered Bank, I was slightly intimidated, but knew I needed to pursue it for the good of my business. I have a lot of advice that I can give to anyone who is looking to start a business. The one thing that stuck with me till this day was when I was recommended to look into websites such as tradesmansaver.co.uk cover for public liability. This wasn’t something I had thought of initially when I was coming up with my business idea, which is why this piece of advice has stuck with me till now. After the competition was launched, I set up a meeting with Sybil Ege of the ECC Small Business Development Center. Although Sybil structured the competition outline so that it was very easy to follow, talking through the process with her gave me the confidence I needed to start putting it together.
“I have been in business for almost six years, and hadn’t yet put a business plan on paper, mainly because I had no format, no structure and no mentor. This business plan competition provided me with the tools I needed to think through our existing growth as well as our growth potential. It was very rewarding to see the correlations between our growth and the decisions I was making, and then use those correlations to develop my business plan.
“I am so honored to have won the award and I want to thank Sybil Ege with ECC SBDC and Chris Sobey with American Chartered Bank for their help and support along the way. Not only will the award money help me with my business plan, but I am very anxious to start the business consulting engagement offered through the Fox Valley Entrepreneurship Center (FVEC). I plan on enrolling in many of the business courses that ECC offers and will utilize the SBDC going forward as my business mentor.”
See this link for complete details for the 2016 competition.
For more information, contact Sybil Ege at ECC: sege@elgin.edu or Harriet Parker at WCC: hparker@waubonsee.edu
About the 2016 Poised for Growth Business Plan Competition
The second annual Poised for Growth Business Plan Competition is offering a top prize of $10,000, plus a consulting engagement valued at $5,000, to the small business that prepares and presents the best business plan describing how they intend to grow their existing business. If sponsorship levels permit, additional prizes will be awarded to runner-up contestants.
The purpose of this competition is to encourage existing businesses to conscientiously and deliberately plot a course that will extend the life of their business, increase its value, and generate profits. While business plans are typically produced when there is a need to borrow money, they should also be developed periodically to reset direction, especially when expansion is involved. The business may be able to support the growth activities on its own, or require outside funding. Either way, the business plan provides the necessary direction.
Entrants will be judged on the business owner’s ability to convey a clear and convincing approach to expanding the business over the next three years. The plan should also demonstrate that the business owner and management team will be able to manage and control the growth without adverse impact.
The competition has three rounds:
The first round confirms the eligibility of the applicant. Applications will be accepted from January 11, 2016 through March 31, 2016.
All that qualify will proceed to round two, which requires submission of a business plan that adheres to the contest format and guidelines. Business Plans may be submitted from January 25, 2016 through May 6, 2016. Business Plan templates will be made available to all applicants that are accepted.
The business owners submitting the top 8 business plans will compete in a final round to identify the “best of the best.” This round requires a brief presentation to a panel of judges. The presentation, including a Q&A, should take no more than 20 minutes. Presentations will be scheduled once second round judging is complete, and is anticipated to be by June 21, 2016. The winner will be announced very shortly thereafter and the prize awarded at an event planned for late June 2016.
Eligibility Requirements
1. The business must be headquartered in Illinois
2. The business must be 3 or more years old
3. The business must be classified as “for profit”
4. The business must be classified as a small business, generally having no more than 500 employees and annual revenues for the last year not exceeding $16 million. The limits vary by industry and will be evaluated as part of the application process.
5. The business must provide proof of a valid and current business entity designation.
6. If the business requires licensing, the business must provide proof of valid and current licensing.
7. If the business plan is declared a finalist, the business owner submitting the plan, or the owner’s designee, must be available to present the plan to a panel of judges.
Business Plan Preparation Assistance
The IL SBDC works with existing businesses to provide guidance and accountability. All applicants are encouraged to use the free services of the IL SBDC at Elgin Community College or Waubonsee Community College to understand the requirements of a solid business plan. There are two ways to gain assistance: 1) work one-on-one with an SBDC counselor, and/or 2) attend a free workshop that reviews both the business plan and presentation formats and guidelines. For information or to register for either option, contact either of the IL SBDC offices (ECC at 847-214-7488 and WCC at 630-906-4143). As a stipulation, the contest winner, if not already a client of the IL SBDC at ECC or WCC, must agree to become a client and work with a counselor from that center for at least one year following the competition.
SOURCES: News release, blog and website information from the SBDC at Elgin Community College and Waubonsee Community College
