News

The Illinois Metro East Small Business Development Center (SBDC) is inviting entrepreneurs with viable products and services that impact and empower the lives of women and families to compete in a national business plan competition: InnovateHER Business Challenge.

Microsoft sponsors the U.S. Small Business Administration’s InnovateHER competition. The SBA will choose 10 competitors from across the nation who will travel to Washington, D.C. in March for a live pitch competition and compete for $70,000 in prize money. To participate, competitors must enter through a local host organization. 

In September, the Illinois Metro East SBDC at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville was selected as the local host and competition coordinator for Central and Southwestern Illinois. Centrue Bank and Mathis, Marifian & Richter, LTD., agreed to serve as competition sponsors. Each will provide a $2,500 cash prize along with in-kind professional services to the local winner. All InnovateHER local winners will be eligible for semifinal round consideration with the opportunity to compete in the $70,000 live pitch final round. 

Patrick McKeehan, director of the Metro East SBDC, says InnovateHER is a great opportunity for Illinois entrepreneurs and small business owners to showcase their products and services on a national stage.

 “Illinois SBDCs regularly work with many innovative companies offering solutions to women and working families,” said McKeehan. “We are honored to support SBA’s efforts to bring these firms to light.” 

Thomas Davey, market president for Centrue Bank, is also a firm believer in the initiative. 

 “Women are nearly half of this country’s labor force and extremely important to our nation’s prosperity” said Davey. “As economic demands on these individuals and their families grow, products and services that respond to their unique challenges increase. This is why Centrue Bank is a proud supporter of the InnovateHER Business Challenge.”

In addition to the generosity of Centrue Bank and Mathis, Marifian, & Richter, the Metro East InnovateHER Challenge has the support of The Meridian Society at SIUE, PNC Foundation, Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois, Justine PETERSEN, SIUE School of Business, City of Highland and the Edwardsville-Glen Carbon Chamber of Commerce. 

To be eligible to compete in the local competition, the innovators must be citizens or permanent residents of the U.S., at least age 18 and have an incorporated business or organization whose primary location is within Central and Southwestern Illinois.

Each application must contain a business plan that includes the following:

• Details as to its potential for commercialization
• How it fills a particular need in the marketplace
• Specifics on how the product or service has a measurable impact on the lives of women and families

Applications must be made online via https://app2.pitchburner.com/s1/site//InnovateHER by midnight Tuesday, Nov. 10.  The SBDC and its partners will announce its local winner and nominee for the March 2016 national competition Thursday, Nov. 19.

The Illinois Metro East SBDC assists start-up businesses and existing companies headquartered in the nine-county Metro East region of Calhoun, Jersey, Madison, Bond, Clinton, St. Clair, Washington, Monroe and Randolph. It is a service to the community funded, in part, through a cooperative agreement between SBA, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. It enhances the region’s economic interests by providing one-stop assistance to individuals by means of counseling, training, research and advocacy for new ventures and existing small businesses. When appropriate, the SBDC strives to affiliate its ties to the region to support the goals and objectives of both the SIUE School of Business and the University at large. To learn how the SBDC can help your small business, contact the Metro East SBDC at (618) 650-2929 or sbdcedw@gmail.com.

Centrue Financial Corporation is a regional financial services company currently headquartered in Ottawa, Ill., which devotes special attention to personal service. Through its 23 locations, the combined company serves a market area which extends from the far western and southern suburbs of the Chicago metropolitan area across Central Illinois down to the metropolitan St. Louis area. The company has total assets of approximately $890 million, total loans of $580 million and total deposits of $700 million. You can visit Centrue Bank’s website at www.centrue.com.