The Southwest Michigan Regional Chamber is bringing back its Shark Tank-style business pitch competition this year to help young business owners get support to continue growing.
The chamber’s Jasmine Hansen tells us the first ever HYPE competition was such a success that they’re looking forward to engaging a whole new set of young entrepreneurs this time around. The competition will be held at Watermark Solarium in Stevensville on November 19, but applications for it will be taken starting next week.
Hansen says on the big day, each entrepreneur will meet with a panel of business leaders who will give them advice and then hear their pitch for reaching the next level of success.
“So we start with that panel and then those four judges then move in to be the judges for our pitch competition,” Hansen said. “So applications for that open next week on August 15th. We’re really excited.”
The panel of judges hasn’t been revealed yet, but Hansen says it’ll likely include some familiar names. They’ll decide which competitors should receive financial support to grow their businesses. She notes last year’s big HYPE winner was an inspiring story from some tireless young entrepreneurs out of Sawyer.
“Zo’s Mini Donuts. They are two sisters out of the Bridgman area that came up with this great idea to start making hot, fresh to order mini donuts. They have a super simple menu with three items on it, and it is phenomenal. So with the money that they won from HYPE last year, they were able to open up a third location, which created 11 new summer jobs.”
That new location is the pink truck that can be found parked in downtown St. Joseph now selling warm, fresh donuts each morning to passersby.
Applications for the HYPE, or Highlighting Young Professional Excellence, competition will be taken starting August 15. To qualify for the competition, an applicant must be between 21 and 40 years of age and in business for one to five years.