A big opportunity is coming up for Eastern Michigan University students interested in business.
A competition called the Accelerate Michigan Student Idea Competition will take place soon. It is part of the largest business competition in the world – the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition. All applications are due by Sept. 30.
Lauren Bigelow, executive director for the competition, said, “The grand prize for the winner of the student competition is $25,000, with second place winning $15,000, third place winning $10,000 and the social media winner also getting $10,000.”
Steve Morrison, a senior business student at EMU, said, “I think it’s pretty cool. I need money.”
“It’s cool that it’s a lot,” said Hannah Beerman, a freshman marketing student, “because if it was only $25, it wouldn’t be worth the work.”
For the social media award, Bigelow said they have an app for the iPhone where people can vote for their favorites.
Bigelow said any undergraduate or graduate student can enter, as long as he or she is enrolled in two classes at a Michigan-based college and he or she registers with a student email address.
According to the competition’s website, it is free for students to apply and there is no limit to how big a team can be. However, only three students from each group can participate for the final event, which is held in November.
“Once I heard ‘group,’ I started thinking of names of people who could help me win this,” Morrison said.
The competition’s requirements include a one-page business idea for the first round, a 2-3-minute YouTube video for the second round and a five-minute elevator pitch for the final round. Bigelow said the five-minute elevator pitch is when the competitors present their idea to the audience and judges.
There are also YouTube videos of the semi-finalists up on the website.
The elevator pitch has two stages to it. Bigelow said the first stage has 25 semi-finalists and the second is with the top 10 from the first stage.
“We take the top ten, and they give the five-minute pitch to a different panel of judges,” she said.
According to the contest website, the judge panel for the competition is made up of investors, experienced business people and members of the Michigan entrepreneurial community.
The semi-finalists will be announced Oct. 17, and the Competition Event will be held Nov. 16-17. Bigelow said the competition will end with a Gala Award Dinner at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn Nov. 17.
“The competition will fuel innovation based business growth by uncovering the best and brightest new business concepts and fostering their growth within Michigan,” said Steven Goldbaum, AMI competition marketing coordinator, in a press release.
The competition is designed to establish Michigan as a strong and exciting place for innovation and business opportunity. Beerman said, “It sounds like a good idea to get people interested in business.” She also said it seems like people are more interested in things if they take place as a competition.
The website says the competition is looking for business ideas that can be valuable job creators and have some serious growth potential. Regarding last year’s competitor’s ideas, Bigelow said, “It wasn’t just high tech, there were also just some really good ideas.”
The Business Accelerator Network for Southeast Michigan and the New Economy Initiative for Southeast Detroit founded the AMI competition. Bigelow said the competition has been in existence since last year.
The Business Accelerator Network for Southeast Michigan is a new network for building and retaining new business in greater-metro Detroit. According to the website, Ann Arbor SPARK, Automation Alley, Macomb-OU INCubato and TechTown make up this organization. All four of these business accelerators are local. Bigelow said BANSM is supported by a three-year, $3-million grant from the New Economy Initiative for Southeast Michigan.
The NEI is made up of nine national and regional foundations: the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan-Detroit; the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation-Southfield, MI; the Ford Foundation-New York, the Hudson-Webber Foundation-Detroit; the W.K. Kellogg Foundation-Battle Creek, MI; The Kresge Foundation-Troy, MI; the McGregor Fund-Detroit; the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation-Flint, MI and the Skillman Foundation-Detroit.
According to the website, these companies have committed a combined $100 million to this eight-year project.
The competition has many sponsors, including Business Leaders for Michigan, Universal Research Corridor, Ford Motor Company and DTE Energy.
For more information about the Accelerate Michigan Student Idea Competition and to apply, visit the website www. acceleratemichigan.org.
