NEWS RELEASE
EFORALL LONGMONT
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EforAll Longmont, a nonprofit supporting underrepresented entrepreneurs to start and grow small businesses, hosted two community pitch contests where local innovators shared their business ideas and received feedback from volunteer judges from the local business community. As a bilingual organization in Colorado, one of the contests was conducted in English & the other in Spanish.
EforAll Longmont executive director Caroline Hafele comments, “Pitch contests are a great way for community members to share their latest business ideas and potentially win funding to support startup costs. We are grateful to have an opportunity to learn about these new ideas and encourage new business development throughout Boulder County.”
A total of 12 candidates participated across the two events. Each candidate had 2.5 minutes to pitch their idea to a panel of three judges. The contestants were then asked clarifying questions regarding their business ideas. After the judges scored and deliberated, they awarded three prizes to the winners:
- $1,000 for the grand prize winner
- $750 for second place
- $500 for third place
- $500 to the fan gavorite chosen by an audience poll
A special thank you to the volunteer judges panel: Jose Luis Ramos (bilingual business specialist); Amanda Mendez (VP of Independent Financial); Rosario Cardenas (owner of Rosario's Restaurant). Jill Mendoza (economic development manager), Kevin Erickson (SVP, market president at Independent Bank), and Danelle Dannenberg (leads product operations at Atlassian).
Congrats to the winners of the EforAll 2022 Fall Pitch Contest in English!
First place winner:
Michael Milakovic of Mighty Mikes Foods
Mighty Mikes foods support provides healthy organic vegetable-based snacks. With childhood obesity still on the rise in the United States, they want to create products that kids and parents love that are healthy and good for you!
Second place:
Carolyn Taylor-Harris of Sanita Soul
A nutritional health coach to help create a paradigm shift within a culture by educating others about the importance of consuming whole, natural foods, being active every day, and finding a mindfulness practice; especially in Black and Brown communities.
Third place and fan favorite:
D.L. Pos Ryant of The Peace & Humanity Smoothie Bus
Our original idea was the Peace and Humanity Smoothie Bus and evolved into the Peace & Humanity Café. They serve as a workforce development hub for students and people with disabilities. Providing nutrition education, awareness, and smoothies. Also, movement through yoga and tai chi.
Congrats to the winners of the EparaTodos 2022 Fall Pitch Contest in Spanish!
First place:
Victoria Garcia of Apapacho Cacao
Apapacho Cacao is an artisan cacao company based in Aurora, Colorado, producing healthy small batches of our artisan cacao blends with huge doses of love.
Second place and fan favorite:
Mayra Lagunas of Aprendo en 20 Aprendo en 20 offers quality educational material in Spanish that adjusts to the Hispanic community in 20-minute videos or virtual classes through a membership based platform.
Third place:
Yesica Colin of Adventure Tots
Adventure Tots is a local Latin-owned small business that offers a safe play area for smaller kids—offering soft toys and costumes for kids to play with.
Upcoming EforAll accelerator programs:
Looking to launch your business but not sure how? Consider being a part of the Accelerator and join the Winter 2023 Programs (offered in English and Spanish).
Online classes begin in January 2023. Applications are due on Oct. 27. Click here for the English program application, or here for the Spanish program application.
Volunteer opportunities:
We are seeking top dynamic professionals of different backgrounds to mentor our next cohorts. Click here to learn how you can make an impact in the community. For more information on becoming a mentor, reach out to [email protected].
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