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Logan Minford, a freshman at Alvernia University, poses in front of his booth for his business, Wooden Chair Coffee Co. Minford’s coffee is all organic and ethically sourced and a portion of the proceeds benefit the Mental Health America Foundation.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
WILKES-BARRE — tecBRIDGE hosted its 21st Annual Business Plan Competition on Thursday at the F. M. Kirby Center, celebrating the best and brightest in local innovation and entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurs from across Northeastern Pennsylvania competed at the high school, collegiate and non-collegiate level, working in teams to come up with a business plan and pitch it to a panel of judges.
The finalists from each division had booths set up all throughout the lobby of the Kirby Center. During the cocktail reception, finalists showed off their hard work, networking with community leaders and their peers. Mentors, teachers and proud parents came out in droves to celebrate.
The winning teams shared over 30,000 in cash prizes, along with the opportunity to continue to grow and expand their businesses.
The Big Idea Essay Competition challenged high school students to describe an area in their community that could be improved upon and present an action plan to make it happen. The winner received a paid tecBRIDGE summer internship opportunity to further develop their ideas.
The evening was interactive too. At registration, attendees were given “tecBUCKS” to vote on the business they would invest in. Sponsored by MVM Associates, the “Wild Card” winner received a cash prize of 5,000.
TecBRIDGE also debuted a totally new award: the Ben Franklin-Tech Partners Award. The winner received a 5,000 cash prize and the opportunity to partner with Ben Franklin-Tech to further grow their business.
The crowd was certainly lively, their chatter filtering all the way up to the mezzanine where tecBRIDGE Executive Director Don Webster stood, taking it all in.
“If you listen to the noise tonight, there’s so much energy,” he said. “That’s the best part of this.”
It was a special evening for Angelo Valletta, President and CEO of Ben Franklin Technology PArtners Northeast Pa, who stressed the importance of supporting and investing in entrepreneurs throughout the region.
“You know, I like to say entrepreneurs do three things from a job perspective,” he said. “They re-imagine, retain, and refresh jobs.”
Dr. Renee Pizzella, an instructor at Wilkes-Barre Area’s Business Academy, couldn’t stop gushing over her students. It was the school’s first time entering the competition and not only were her students finalists in the High School Division, but one of them, Charlie Litwan, was also a finalist for the Big Idea Essay.
“They put their heart and soul into it,” Pizzella said.
When Pizzella and her students began brainstorming back in the fall, she “challenged” them to find a problem in their community that they, as kids, could solve.
From that, Store Steps was born.
“The idea behind it is to help the visually impaired be able to gain independence by grocery shopping using an audio app that will guide them to the product,” she explained.
Pizzella and her students partnered with Wegmans Grocery Store in Wilkes-Barre to develop the app and spent hours physically measuring the distance from the front door to the product.
The whole process required a lot of mentoring and as a business owner herself, Pizzella was excited to help her students learn from her own mistakes. The response was so positive that next year, Wilkes-Barre Area Business School will begin offering a class on entrepreneurship.
“It doesn’t end tonight,” Pizzella said. “It continues.”
Winners of the 21 Annual Business Plan Competition were as follows:
McNally Mentor of the Year (Sponsored by Currentcy): Neal DeAngelo III of Tri-Mountain Ventures
Education Partner of the Year: Marie Ernst of Hazelton Area Academy of Sciences
High School Division Winner: Fli-DAR, Abington Heights High School (Nicholas Booth, Alex Duffy and Owen Mcvety)
Big Idea Essay Winner (Sponsored by Atlantic Community Bankers Bank): Emma Monahan, Carbondale Area
Collegiate Division Winner (Sponsored by Predictable Property) : Sensify, Lackawanna College (Mathew Guse, Joseph McLaughlin and Tom OHop)
Non-Collegiate Division Winner (Sponsored by FNCB): Ocoa, Berks County (Cory Varona-Corniel and Nicol Cancelmo)
Ben-Franklin Tech Partners Award Winner: Aimloxy (Dr. Ritu Khurana and Dr. Vikas Khurana)
Wild Card Winner (Sponsored by MVM Associates): Sensify, Lackawanna College
Smit Webster Cup: Jill Murray, Lackawanna College President
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