Entrepreneurs across Seward County will have the chance to pitch their best business ideas – with the possibility of catching the attention of investors – at Concordia University’s C3 competition this fall.
The Concordia Catalyst Competition, or C3, will award cash and prizes to the top new business ideas in the community.
The contest is open to anyone in Seward County with a new business idea, including high school students and the general public.
Registration opens Sept. 4, and the first round of competition will be in November.
Concordia is working with the Seward County Chamber and Development Partnership to host the contest, now in its third year.
Jonathon Moberly, dean of the College of Business at Concordia, said C3 began in the Ag Science Department, which opened at CU in 2019.
“Every farmer has a side hustle. They have to think entrepreneurially,” Moberly said.
The department quickly became involved in the Nebraska Grain Sorghum Board’s Catalyst competition, which encouraged college students and others in the ag industry to develop innovative products that could increase revenue for farmers growing sorghum in Nebraska.
C3 became Concordia’s version of the contest, started by Dr. Dennis Brink, professor of agricultural science, Brian Larrington, Nebraska senior sales representative at Boehringer Ingleheim, a health care research and product manufacturing company, and Jonathan Jank, a Concordia graduate and current president and CEO of the SCCDP.
In its first year, 2020, the contest had just five entries.
In 2021, C3 expanded to include students in the ag and business departments at Concordia, growing participation to 25 teams.
Last year’s winner, Wyatt Hambly, pitched an idea for a mobile welding service.
This year, the contest will expand to include all those in Seward County – not just students – who have an idea for a business.
Ideas do not have to be related to agriculture.
Participants will give a 90-second pitch for their business or idea to a panel of judges and answer questions about their idea.
Judges include members of the SCCDP, Concordia faculty, community members and business leaders.
“They can really get some great feedback,” Jank said.
Finalists from the preliminary round will advance to a second round of competition in December.
The winners will be invited to a business plan competition in the spring, in which they will develop a more complete business plan including financials.
“They can win prize money to launch their ideas,” Jank said.
The prize money continues to grow with each year of competition.
This year, C3 earned a $500 microgrant from the Nebraska Entrepreneurship Task Force, which will go toward the prize money in addition to funds from other sources.
Jank said the winners will be connected with potential investors and loan officers to help launch their ideas into reality.
Registration information and a pitch template will be available on the Concordia website, cune.org, on Sept. 4.
For more information, contact Moberly at jonathon.moberly@cune.edu or Jank at jonathan@cultivatesewardcounty.com.
