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Social Entrepreneurs From Each NYC Borough Selected To Compete In First-Ever 'Battle Of The Boros' Pitch Event This Thursday
Social Entrepreneurs From Each NYC Borough Selected To Compete In First-Ever 'Battle Of The Boros' Pitch Event This Thursday
Published 01-15-14
Submitted by Good Business
Let the Battle begin! Five finalists—one from each borough—have been selected to compete in the first-ever ‘Battle of the Boros’ social impact pitch competition scheduled to take place Thursday January 16th at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus. The event plays on the good-natured sibling rivalry between NYC’s five boroughs while celebrating the entrepreneurs making a difference in their neighborhoods and beyond, and will answer the burning question: which borough has the best social entrepreneurs? This high-energy event will also feature live entertainment from members of NYC Arts Cypher, an arts & cultural hub in Staten Island featuring local NYC actor Charlie Balducci as MC. Rapper Krempo & Sinistarz, & Hip-Hop dance group Cyndikit perform.
The finalists, culled from dozens of applicants across NYC, are:
Concourse Markets (Bronx) – an online platform for collaborative community lending
Simply Grid (Brooklyn) – delivers on-demand electricity for food carts & food trucks, eliminating pollution and noise
I Am Not A Virgin (Manhattan) – ‘eco sexy’ denim line made with recycled plastic bottles
Sensational Sauces (Queens) – all-natural, locally sourced and produced line of sauces
Staten Island NYC Living (Staten Island) – digital ‘magalog’ that aims to raise awareness of the culture, history and community of the ‘forgotten borough’
The five finalists will compete for cash and in-kind services valued at $25,000. Contestants will be judged upon social innovation, sustainability, business model, potential for social impact in NYC, and quality of presentation Two lucky winners—the ‘Best of the Boros’ winner chosen by a panel of expert judges, and a People’s Choice winner chosen by the audience—will split a $5,000 cash prize donated by The CEDI Society, a civic engagement organization launching in early 2014. ($4,000 will be awarded to the Best of the Boros winner, and $1,000 to the People’s Choice). Matthew Henninger, the founder & CEO of CEDI, will award the prize.
In addition, both winners will receive valuable services generously supplied by in-kind sponsors, including:
The Moderns, a solutions-based creative studio that uses strategy and design methodologies based in social equity and environmental innovation, will offer branding strategy, a day-long workshop, and mentorship for the winners.
Day Pitney, a leading full service law firm, will offer legal counsel on a variety of critical startups issues, including business structure, incorporation and IP protection.
The Centre for Social Innovation, a coworking space for NYC’s social impact community, will offer two ‘hot desks’ for six months at its beautiful space in the Starrett-Lehigh building in Chelsea.
Other in-kind services are offered by Fordham Foundry, ThatMatters, Return on Change, and Good Business New York.
The live event will take place on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2014 at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus starting at 5 pm, immediately following the MakeImpactNYC conference. Tickets and information available at www.MakeImpactNYC.com.
The MakeImpactNYC team would like to wish all of our finalists good luck! No matter who wins, we are all richer for their efforts
The ‘Battle of the Boros’ is part of the MakeImpactNYC conference taking place on Jan. 16. The conference is hosted by Fordham University’s Center for Humanistic Management and Good-B.com, an online news and new media platform supporting entrepreneurs for social good. Co-hosts include Locavesting, Return on Change, and ThatMattersLive. The conference brings together NYC’s social impact ecosystem and spotlights the innovative entrepreneurs who are “doing good in their ‘hoods.” The event will feature a mix of panel discussions on themes exploring how food, design, funding and other elements of the social impact ecosystem are helping to make NYC a better place for all. Participants include leaders from CBS/EcoMedia, Etsy, Fundrise, Girls Who Code, Centre for Social Innovation, Pratt Center for Sustainable Design, BlocPower, Silicon Harlem, Staten Island Makers Space, The Kitchen, Bronx Foundry, SlowMoneyNYC, Wales Capital and more. For more information, go to: www.MakeImpactNYC.org.
