New Venture Competition to launch virtually
Students, staff and faculty gather for New Venture Competition on Apr. 13, 2019 in French Auditorium.
Central Michigan University’s annual New Venture Competition will proceed virtually this year in order to adhere to COVID-19 safety guidelines.
The New Venture Competition virtual kick-off will take place at 3:30-4:45 p.m. Aug. 27.
Despite being virtual, the competition will still provide students of all majors with the opportunity to work with others and network.
“The opportunity is more important than ever, since COVID-19, because networking and person to person connection is a lot more limited and we are finding creative ways to still maintain and expand networks,” said Julie Messing project manager of the New Venture Competition.
Antoinette Lewis, former participant of the New Venture Competition and business owner of Brown Crows Beauty said that the competition is a starting point to get your foot in the door.
As a participant in the New Venture Competition, Lewis gained funding for her business to make ethnic beauty and haircare products easily accessible to women of color on campus at CMU. Her winning pitch was a vending machine to sell her products, located in the Bovee University Center.
Lewis said the workshops that lead up to the competition are helpful to form a solid business idea.
“Those are going to help you get the feedback that you need, give you a perspective from the judges standpoint, learn what judges could constantly question you about, and find loop holes to make you see what could be done better,” Lewis said.
The virtual aspect of this year’s competition will make certain aspects a lot more difficult but opens it up for so many more opportunities, Messing said. She noted that the competition has many entrepreneurs and professionals to support the participants virtually through collaborative group work.
“It is engaging across university ecosystems so that students of any major will have ideas, and this is a place to help bring them forward,” Messing said.
