Winners Announced in 10th Annual Monfort College of Business Entrepreneurial Challenge
April 5, 2019
Five Colorado businesses participated in the 10th annual Monfort College of Business (MCB) Entrepreneurial Challenge finals on Wednesday, April 3, at the University of Northern Colorado's University Center with first place going to Denver-based Notty Foods.
All five finalists were awarded a share of $50,000 as well as services from UNC BizHub, the business incubator at UNC. The success of this year’s Entrepreneurial Challenge reflects UNC’s commitment to serve current and future students, businesses and the Colorado community.
First place winner of $25,000 was Notty Foods (nottyfoods.com) from Denver: Notty Foods manufactures and distributes chocolate products that can help people reduce
their sugar consumption.- Second place winner of $13,000 is Laborjack (laborjack.com) based in Fort Collins: Laborjack is a technology-based, labor service provider that connects college students to individuals or businesses in need of labor, such as moving and yardwork.
- Third place winner of $7,000 is Career Allies (careeralliesinc.com) from Fort Collins: Career Allies is an enterprise software solution that manages the parental leave process by partnering with companies to go beyond offering maternity and paternity leave.
- Fourth place winner of $2,500 is Ageto Energy (agetoenergy.com) from Fort Collins: Ageto Energy simplifies the task of integrating renewable energy into power systems by reducing system complexity and enabling renewable energy to be integrated into power systems.
- Fifth place winner of $2,500 is Define the Line (definethelinecomic.com) based in Fort Collins: Define the Line is a comic book-based sexual harassment training tool that provides fresh, relevant and actionable training to combat and prevent sexual harassment in and out of the workplace.
The finalists presented their business plans to a panel of judges, with backgrounds in several industries and multinational experience, including,
- Jay Andersen, founder and CEO of Top-Line Xceleration and MCB adjunct professor;
- Bill Dieterich, executive director of Social and Advisory Group for Entrepreneurs;
- Jeff Jones, director of quality for Jacobs and MCB adjunct professor;
- Karol Jones, CFO, Colorado Lending Source;
- Michael O’Donnell, executive director, Colorado Lending Source;
- Denny Otsuga, founder, president and CEO of EnConnect Holdings;
- Nathalie Rachline, co-founder of kIT Framework, senior drector of IT Strategic Planning at Nutrien;
- Carolyn d’ Arville (guest judge), professor emerita, Biological Sciences Rutgers University;
- Mary Alice Grant (guest judge), co-founder and managing partner for Rudder Associates, LLC.
The host for this year’s event was MCB Dean, Paul Bobrowski, with opening remarks from UNC President Andy Feinstein. Also attending the finals were several students and teachers from Greeley Central’s business classes.
"This year’s competition set the stage for launching several new initiatives: a student challenge in fall 2019 and inaugural Entrepreneurship Week in January 2020. We are excited to see the Entrepreneurial Challenge continue to develop into a unique, ongoing program that helps area high school and college students, businesses and the community network, learn and grow,” said Dallas Everhart, director of the challenge.
Partners and sponsors of the challenge include: the Monfort family; Colorado Lending Source; East Colorado SBDC; KUNC; UNC BizHub Collaborative; Envirotech Services, Inc.; and WeldWerks Brewing.
For more information about the competition, visit mcb-echallenge.com.
