Northern Michigan University's College of Business will present “The Big Pitch,” the culminating event of its annual New Business Venture Competition, at 1 p.m. Friday, Feb. 23, as part of Innovation Week activities on campus. NMU students will present their proposals to a panel of judges, vying for thousands of dollars in funding to get their business ideas off the ground.
Innovation Week is hosted by SISU: The Innovation Institute at NMU and Innovate Marquette SmartZone.
Students have prepared detailed plans on designing and creating new business enterprises, drawing on their own ideas and inventions or those of others. The competition provides a forum for these students to present their new venture plans to investors, receive meaningful feedback, have the opportunity to start a new business and apply classroom learning to real-world projects. The business plans must propose ventures that will be financially profitable, create new jobs and be lawful.
Students working individually or in teams of up to five can submit a plan to start a new business and compete for prizes. These submissions are screened by a faculty/staff committee, and the chosen finalists continue to the second part of the competition, after which finalists are chosen.
This year, the six finalists, along with their academic majors and business ideas are:
Brecken Mills and Maggie Boburka, entrepreneurship and business management: Peninsula Pizookies.
Kylie Gustafson, entrepreneurship: Wildsteps.
Ryan Carmody, medicinal plant chemistry: Adult-use CEO Micro-business.
Heather Lindstrom, accounting: 906 Pet Treats, LLC.
Christopher Anderson, Sergiy Blackwood and Josie Beach, entrepreneurship: Snackage.
Morgan Johnson, entrepreneurship: Dan's Loft Kit Kart.