Watauga Democrat —The Discovery Forum — a statewide competition to discover the most revolutionary business ideas — is including the Boone community in its search on Oct. 7, and social entrepreneurs ages 18 to 30 are invited to submit their ideas and compete for a lofty $10,000 prize.
The forum takes place at 5:30 p.m. in the Blue Ridge Ballroom of Appalachian State University's Plemmons Student Union. Ten to 15 students and/or young professionals will be selected to pitch their ideas in a short, five-minute presentation selling their ideas or existing ventures.
Social entrepreneurship is the attempt to draw upon business techniques to find solutions to social problems.
The Discovery Forum offers a night of learning, networking and inspiration for young professionals in Boone who are interested in social entrepreneurship. Local residents can submit ideas they have been developing or even businesses they have already created, as long as the purpose is to improve the local Boone community and it provides a fresh, innovative idea. The submission deadline is Sept. 28.
At the event, a panel will vote at the end of the night to select up to three finalist teams which will be invited to attend the Leadership Symposium in Raleigh the weekend of Oct. 23.
The Leadership Symposium will be filled with networking, training and skills development from North Carolina's leaders in innovation. In addition to this experience and training, the top candidates will compete for the final prize of $10,000 to make their ideas become a reality.
The Institute for Emerging Issues at N.C. State, the BB&T Student Leadership Center and the Transportation Insight Center for Entrepreneurship are collaborating on this event and invite members of the Boone community to submit ideas.
Send your idea, with an exciting headline and a short description (no more than 100 words), to Erich Schlenker at schlenkere@appstate.edu by Sept. 28.
Those interested in learning more should contact Schlenker or call (828) 262-6196.
Register to attend as an audience member or participant at http://leadership.business.appstate.edu/events/2015-boone-discovery-forum.
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