Newly launched Dare to Venture competition set to award $30K in micro-grants
January 15, 2020 | Startland News Staff
Participants in a series of select entrepreneurship courses this winter will be eligible to win a total of $30,000 in micro-grant awards thanks to the Urban Business Growth Initiative.
Funded by the City of Kansas City, Missouri, and administered by the UMKC Innovation Center, the new Dare to Venture Micro-Grant Competition is expected to feature numerous prizes with a top winner earning at least $5,000.
“A $5,000 prize can make a world a difference to a business owner who has already done the groundwork to build their dream,” said Carmen DeHart, senior director of entrepreneurial education at the UMKC Innovation Center. “We want this competition to support, spotlight and even spark the work and courage that goes into being an entrepreneur.”
The prizes are grants with no equity component, DeHart emphasized, and judging falls to peers — fellow entrepreneurs who’ve shared the journey of entrepreneurship and continued education.
Dare to Venture also rewards entrepreneurs who have already invested in their entrepreneurial education by taking a multi-session, 30-hour+ entrepreneurship class, getting a coach (a part of the class) and building their peer network, she said. And finally, judging falls to peers — fellow entrepreneurs who’ve shared this journey of entrepreneurship and continued education.
Mishawnda and James Mintz, Urban Business Growth Initiative alumni
The competition is open to all UBGI scholarship-funded graduates — past or current — of the center’s 30-hour+ entrepreneurship courses who currently live in or whose businesses are located in Kansas City, Missouri. Graduates of extended entrepreneurship courses that start in late January and February 2020 also are eligible to enter the competition.
Click here for a list of qualifying entrepreneurship courses.
Contest applications open March 15, 2020.
Click here for a full competition description, timeline and rules.
Click here to apply for a UBGI scholarship, which can bring the cost of classes down to $75.
Winners will be announced at a city-sponsored event May 7 during the U.S. Small Business Administration’s National Small Business Week.
“The micro-grant competition is an idea generated through startup community participation in the City Budget Speakeasy public input sessions,” said Rick Usher, assistant city manager of the City of Kansas City, Missouri. “It’s exciting to see this come to fruition through our partnership with the UMKC Innovation Center.”
Featured Business
2020 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Kauffman CEO retiring this fall: New leader must support ‘entrepreneur-focused economic development’
President and CEO of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Wendy Guillies announced that she will be retiring this fall after 22 years with the nonprofit. “Like many people over the past extraordinary few years, I’ve reflected on my professional and personal priorities. What won’t change is my drive to engage in work that makes our…
Its menu simmers with just five dishes; How Thaiger’s bowl’d flavors roll in complex family recipes
When someone orders the spicy pho or crispy pork belly bowl at Thaiger, they soon receive it just as Adison Sichampanakhone and his family make it at home, he shared. “If you were to come to one of our barbecues or cookouts, you would see it’s the same preparation, same sauce as we do here…
He wants to create 100 millionaires before he dies (but first Nassir Criss says he’ll have to leave KC)
Nassir Criss has been a risk-taker for as long as he can remember, he shared. “When you start at the bottom, the only place you can go is up — so I’ve never been afraid to speak my mind or walk up to someone who I think may be interesting and say hello. I haven’t…
Sandlot scores endorsement by one of KC’s favorite players; how the deal puts this brand on a base path to the big leagues
Kansas City’s only local hat maker, Sandlot Goods, announced Thursday its first professional athlete endorsement — from Royals infielder Nicky Lopez — in a hit aimed as a major play in the brand’s home run strategy. “We are incredibly excited about our first major league endorsement,” said Chad Hickman, founder of Sandlot Goods. “The first…