WCU holds Business Idea Pitch competition
Potential investors will hear the ideas for new businesses from students and others on Wednesday
Fifth annual forum provides showcase for budding entrepreneurs.
Is the next Steve Jobs ready to be revealed?
On Wednesday, the Dr. Edwin Cottrell Entrepreneurial Leadership Center at West Chester University and the Keiretsu Forum Mid-Atlantic hope to find out.
Judges will choose winners in four categories in the 2017 Business Idea Pitch competition and will award $8,000 in cash prizes. But the real draw for budding entrepreneurs is the exposure of their ideas to investors who might be interested in their business ideas, said Pattie Diggin, a professor in the university’s department of management.
Diggin, a professor at the university for six years, said the contest has produced a number of gems over the years and credited Monica Zimmerman, professor of management and director of the Dr. Edwin CotCities
“This is really born out of her passion to help students make their dreams come true.” — Pattie Diggin, a professor in the university’s department of management.
trell Entrepreneurial Leadership Center, with keeping it relevant.
“Her specialties are angel investors and entrepreneurs,” Diggin said Friday. “This is really born out of her passion to help students make their dreams come true.”
Two years ago, the grand prize winner was Girls Auto Clinic in Upper Darby, started by Patrice Banks.
Banks grew disenchanted with the way she was treated by male car mechanics, so she started a shop that caters to women – and turned her waiting room into a nail salon.
“It is a huge success,” Zimmerman said. After the WCU Business Idea Pitch, Banks went on to win $50,000 in the Keiretsu Forum Mid-Atlantic Angel Capital Expo Fast Pitch, “and the business is really taking off.”
“Our 2016 winner, Elite Pureed Meals, presented at the 2016 Angel Capital Expo and won the Fast Pitch Division,” Zimmerman added. “The founder, Colleen McCloskey created a business to serve persons with swallowing conditions.”
The contest, now in its fifth year, takes on many of the attributes that have made “Shark Tank” a popular television show.
Zimmerman said 143 persons submitted ideas across the contest’s four divisions: Professional, WCU undergraduate students, WCU graduate students and alumni, and West Chester Area School District students.
Winners from each category will then make final pitches for the $3,000 grand prize.
Diggin said she has a soft spot in her heart for entrepreneurs because she was one herself not long ago.
She owned a children’s book and toy store in Chadds Ford that she eventually had to close.
Diggin noted her timing “couldn’t have been worse” as she started the venture in 2004 just as Amazon was about to soar in popularity.
Prior to the store, Diggin specialized in marketing, communications and advertising, working for the New York Times .
“What’s exciting this year is the format lets us have more contestants giving their pitches,” Diggin said. “Because even if you don’t win, you get in front of people who might want to invest in your idea.”
– To register for the Wednesday’s pitch event, visit www.wcubizideas.com. It will be held at the University’s Business and Public Management Center, Suite 318, 50 Sharpless Street, West Chester.
There will also be a breakfast Wednesday morning where Entrepreneur in Residence Chris Heivly will speak on “Building Better Startup Communities.” To register for that, send an email to cottrellcenter@wcupa.edu
– To contact Daily Local News Business Editor Brian McCullough, call 610-235-2655 or send an email to bmccullough@ dailylocal.com.