Ignite! contest returns for second year
Time is running out to enter this year’s Ignite! Ideas Competition, EngenuitySC’s annual business plan competition.
The competition, in its second year, is still open to entries, with a two-minute video, until Oct. 19. It offers a top prize of $5,000 from Wells Fargo, but its real goal, according to competition coordinator Frank Avery, is to connect up-and-coming innovators with Columbia’s business community.
Its promotional video, featuring local business leaders, hints at that. Among its highlights: Mayor Steve Benjamin and USC President Harris Pastides driving in a Mercedes with scissor doors and Benjamin riding a horse down Main Street.
Members of that community will gather Nov. 14 for a $45-per-head event to hear pitches from three finalists in the Carolina Coliseum.
But the competition has a hitch. Submissions must offer a solution to a business or social need, according to Avery.
Last year’s winner, Jim Stritzinger, is working on EnduringFX, a program that would connect runners’ smartphones with the paths they traveled and let them share their times with friends.
His concept has since won accolades in national competitions, according to Avery, and he’s been able to file for an LLC and buy a laptop with the prize money.
Last year’s other finalists pitched businesses that would encourage students to practice music, find a new niche in children’s entertainment, integrate social media with government and “crowdsource” funding for downtown art projects, according to Avery.