READY TO LAUNCH YOUR BUSINESS?
COMPETE FOR A $10,000 GRAND PRIZE AND OTHER PRIZES to fund it.
The State System Business Plan Competition Committee is seeking State System students who are interested in starting or growing their own business in Pennsylvania.
Individual students or student teams compete by submitting a condensed version of their business plan—a business profile—to be screened by our committee members and, if eligible, scored by our first round of judges. Those students or student teams with the highest scored profiles—known as semi-finalists—will advance to the second round of judges. The second round of judges will score the semi-finalist profiles, and the highest scored profiles will advance as finalists. Finalists will be asked to interview, by phone, with our second round of judges who will then select the top three finishers to be announced and recognized at our Awards Ceremony on April 3, 2019. All Semi-finalists and Finalists will also be recognized and asked to display a poster at the ceremony for cash prizes.
View examples from past years’ competitions:
Enter the competition here
Prizes include:
- $10,000 for 1st place
- $5,000 for 2nd place
- $2,500 for 3rd place
- $350.00 for 1st place in best poster displayed at Awards Ceremony
- $150.00 for 2nd place in best poster displayed at Awards Ceremony
Time line:
- Personal Form due: November 30, 2018
- Business profiles due: February 13, 2019
- Semi-Finalists announced: February 25, 2019
- Finalists announced: March 4, 2019
- Awards Ceremony: April 3, 2019