Prize Money Available for Female Entrepreneurs

From the Montgomery Extra section of the Post:

Rockville Economic Development Inc. is organizing the fourth annual StartRight! Women's Business Plan Competition. The contest aims to honor the best business plan submitted by female business owners in Maryland, the District and Virginia. Businesses must be at least 51 percent owned by a woman and have been operating for two years or less. First prize is $10,000, followed by $5,000 for second place and $2,500 for third place.
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Since 2003, I have suggested that DC do a similar program for retail business development in our neighborhood commercial districts and Downtown. According to research on business plan competitions, you really need at least 100 participants to make it work. Therefore, doing this just for a particular Main Street program is likely to not make sense.

See "Do-it-yourself Silicon Valley: Using business plan competitions to spur economic development," from the McKinsey Quarterly.

Index Keywords: business-development