Eight finalists who were selected for the $10,000 Faulkner Challenge, hosted by the Center for Entrepreneurship at Fort Hays State University, will give their business presentations at 9 a.m. Saturday, March 30, in McCartney Hall, home of the W.R. Yvonne Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship.
The public is invited to watch the presentations.
The top three business projects will split the $10,000 in prize money into awards of $6,000, $3,000, and $1,000, to first, second, and third places, respectively.
The finalists are Authenticure, Café May, greeEat, Kalliope, Life Style 360, Making Cents of Finance, Safe Drop and Wright Enterprises.
“Because of the changes made to the competition format and increased promotion, applications have grown nine times over the last year,” said Dr. David Snow, director of Entrepreneurship at FHSU.
“A record number of business plans were submitted by the March 20 deadline,” said Snow. Students from FHSU, the Kansas Academy of Mathematics and Science, regional high schools and residents of Northwest Kansas submitted 27 business plans.
Presentations will run until 12:15 p.m. Judges feedback will be given from 12:45 to 1:15 p.m. with awards to follow.
The Faulkner Challenge, made possible by alumnus, Kevin Faulkner, is a business plan competition for new, independent proposed ventures in the conceptual, seed or startup stages.
For free tickets to watch the event, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/faulkner-challenge-tickets-55640862317?aff=ehomecard.
For more information about the Faulkner Challenge, visit https://www.fhsu.edu/cob/faulkner-challenge.
For more information about the FHSU Center for Entrepreneurship, visit https://www.fhsu.edu/cob/entrepreneurship.