UAH to host entrepreneurship pitch competition for high schoolers
HUNTSVILLE — Area high schoolers will have a unique opportunity to develop and hone their entrepreneurial skills thanks to an entrepreneurship pitch competition developed and sponsored by UAH’s College of Business.
The competition, called “be Entrepreneurial” (beE), will allow students to work in teams to develop an idea and pitch it to a panel of judges at a grand finale event in October.
Dr. Valentina Iscaro, an adjunct professor in UAH’s College of Business, is organizing the event with Dr. Rigved Joshi, director of the new D.S. Davidson Invention to Innovation Center (I²C) at UAH, with the support of Dr. Jason Greene, dean of UAH’s College of Business. Urban Engine, a nonprofit supporting STEAM innovation and entrepreneurship in North Alabama, is sponsoring the competition.
Iscaro said the main purpose of the competition is to give high school students an opportunity to experience a day on a college campus and network with both students and faculty.
According to Iscaro, each high school in the area has a faculty member serving as a point of contact for the competition who will support the students in creating teams of two to five people. After students register and create their teams, a professional mentor will come to their school in two sessions to offer help and guidance before the grand finale event.
“[The mentor] will support the team in the idea improvement, so they will have the team improve the ‘elevator pitch’ and improve the details of the idea,” Iscaro noted.
Vicki Morris, public relations coordinator for the event, stressed that the competition is not only open to students at public and private high schools in the area, but homeschooled high school students are also welcome to register and participate.
“Homeschool teams are treated just like another public or private high school,” Morris said. “We want them to participate. We will have mentors that will come to their meeting facility, or we can possibly do some mentoring here at UAH or different places around town to accommodate those homeschool groups.” Iscaro said they can also arrange to have the mentoring sessions over a video service like Skype.
After a team submits an idea, they will receive a six-slide PowerPoint presentation template.
“The six slides are about the description of the idea, the description of the problem and the solution that they are trying to propose, and basically the analysis of [what makes the idea different],” Iscaro said.
For students hesitant to enter, Iscaro emphasized that they should not feel intimidated by the task of coming up with an idea to pitch. In addition, the idea pitched does not need to be of any certain type.
“The biggest fear that I think the students have is the idea itself, but we are not judging how revolutionary the idea is, but how effectively they will communicate and how good the team is,” Iscaro said. “ … The important thing is to be excited and to be enthusiastic and to communicate effectively that idea.”
Morris also suggested that students focus on the experience they will gain from participating, rather than the competition. She noted that it is a valuable experience for any student considering working toward a business degree in college.
“Think about the experience that you’re going to gain by collaborating and working with other people and learning to communicate and delegate and put a project together, and the experience you’ll get with networking and getting to get involved with the College of Business Administration,” Morris said.
If students are interested in the competition but do not wish to compete, Iscaro said they are welcome to come watch the grand finale event. They will also still be able to meet UAH faculty and students in the College of Business. However, Iscaro encourages students to participate in a team.
“Having a team obviously is going to be very fun,” she said. “That is the core of the experience.”
There will be awards for first, second and third place in the competition, including up to $3,000 in cash and prizes. Every participant will receive a certificate for participating, and schools with participating students will receive a plaque.
The competition is free to enter. Students may register online by Sept. 30 at be-entrepreneurial.org. Teams can submit their idea as soon as possible on the website as well.
The grand finale event will take place Oct. 25 in the UAH Business Administration building from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. Admission to the event is also free. For more information, visit be-entrepreneurial.org.
“This is an amazing experience, not only because [students] can just challenge themselves and try something fun and pitch the idea to a commission of experts, but also because they will experience college life,” Iscaro said.