CCHUB’s entrepreneur contest now open!

Our business development competition is officially live and this is just the beginning of all the fun. We are accepting applications from Columbia County residents, age 16-25, now through July 15, 2024, and official contestants will be announced by July 20.

All you need to do to express interest is fill out our online interest form, which should just take a few minutes. That form is available at bit.ly/kidsbiz2024, and as a tab on our website www.columbiacountyhub.com. Once you submit your initial note of interest, you will be contacted by one of our board members with instructions on how to submit your business plan and budget documents. We are not judging entrants based on grammar or the quality of the writing in their plan; all entries will be judged based on the merit of the idea and the potential of success in executing the plan submitted.

Once the contestants are announced, they will each be given a budget of $100 to hold a free-standing marketing event. That event can be in person or online, but must demonstrate growth of some kind (financial, social media following, community support, etc.). The contestants will then be responsible for making a presentation outlining the outcome and level of success that they had with their individual projects. Those presentations will be on display at our group marketing event, which will be held on August 22 at The Lodge.

We are inviting the public to join us at that marketing event so that the contestants get a chance to network with the community and garner support. At the end of that event, we will hold both an online and in-person vote, which will determine which top three contestants make it to “The Shark Tank.”

The final Shark Tank event will be held this fall, and tickets will be available for the community to come and have a front row seat to cheer on their favorite competitor. The winner of that event will be given a $5,000 grant and access to $7,500 in low interest lending.

We are still looking for mentors for our program, if you are interested in joining forces with one of our young entrepreneurs, please email us at columbiacountyhub@gmail.com .