Fresno State and community college students have the opportunity to win $10,000 in the annual student business plan competition sponsored by the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at California State University, Fresno. The first of three workshops to help students will be held today (Feb. 21).
The contest allows students to build a business plan that they will present at the Invention to Venture workshop on May 3, 2008.
First- through third-place winners will receive cash awards to help them develop their businesses. The first-place winner will be awarded $6,500, with second- and third-place winners receiving $2,500 and $1,000, respectively.
Additionally, the first-place winner will receive one of eight office spaces in the Lyles Center Hatchery, and be automatically entered into the Draper Fisher Jurveston $250,000 Venture Challenge. The first-place winner also will win a scholarship to attend the E-Myth Leadership Intensive Seminar, a two-day event valued at $1,500.
Workshops to help students create their own business plans will be held monthly starting in January. They will continue through April. The workshops are open to the public and will be held at the Lyles Center from 5:30-7:00 p.m.
The schedule is as follows: Feb. 21, “Legal Issues to Starting a Business;” March 13, “Financing Your Business;” and April 3, “Presentation Skills.”
For more information, contact Genelle Taylor at 559.347.6832.
