Tammy Everts. New Vision Business Development Director. File photo

By RICHARD BURGER

New Yakima County entrepreneurs will have a unique opportunity to grow their businesses with an initiative just launched for Yakima County.

New Vision, the Yakima County Development Association, has announced that it is initiating the Enterprise Challenge, a three-month, multi-round, business-plan competition.

According to a New Vision press release, the competition will begin in September and unfold through December.

At the conclusion of the competition, first, second, and third place winners will emerge, and will be awarded $10,000, $5,000, and $2,500 respectively.

Tammy Everts, Business Development Director, said the competition will provide numerous opportunities for networking, business development classes, and mentoring. 

Those opportunities will begin with a half-day workshop entitled “MBA In A Day,” a small component of which will be to learn more details about the Enterprise Challenge.

Everts stressed that the MBA In A Day workshop would be of interest to entrepreneurs, even if they were not interested in the Challenge.

The workshop, which will take place at the Clarion Hotel, will include sessions on legal issues for business, financial management, marketing and business planning basics, and will include tracks on these subjects for individuals with limited English. 

A highlight of the workshop will be a keynote lunch presentation by Rebecca Lovell, Executive Director of the Northwest Entrepreneur Network.

“She is fantastic,” Everts said. “She is a dynamic speaker and she has worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs.”

During her talk, Lovell will offer tips on what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur.

The workshop will conclude with a brief informational session on the Enterprise Challenge and how individuals and teams can compete. Everts described the Enterprise Challenge format as “tournament-type,” in which contestants are judged on various segments of the competition.

Contestants will be given time to work on their business plans during the Challenge, but the purpose of the contest is more than business-plan development.

“Our goal through this competition is to help emerging companies take root and grow in our valley,” Everts said. “The contest is much more than having a person submit a business plan and get a cash prize.”  

Educational seminars and field trips will be built into the contest to give participants take-home tips and information that will help them run and sustain their businesses, Everts said.

Details about the Challenge will be posted on New Vision’s entrepreneur web site, www.YakimaValley.biz. 

Everts said the new initiative will help identify some of the valley’s “best and brightest” entrepreneurs.

“You never know what kind of businesses are out there,” she said. “People will be surprised.”

Entrepreneurs interested in attending the MBA In A Day workshop or the Enterprise Challenge may call Everts at 575-1140, visit the New Vision Office at 10 North 9th St. in Yakima, or visit the New Vision entrepreneur web site.

Everts said participation in the Challenge is reserved for Yakima Valley entrepreneurs with emerging businesses less than three years old. 

Cost of the MBA In A Day workshop is $40, and that will be credited to the $100 cost of the Enterprise Challenge.