Who says that all start ups should be in bustling metropolitan areas? The American Farm Bureau Federation together with the McDonough School of Business Global Social Enterprise Initiative and the Georgetown Entrepreneurship Initiative’s StartupHoyas announced the four national finalists of the first-ever Rural Entrepreneurship Challenge. The challenge provides an opportunity for individuals to showcase ideas and business innovations being developed in rural regions of the United States.
The finalist businesses are:
- Pasturebird, LLC (Temecula, California), a cost-effective method of producing pastured poultry on a large scale. Team lead: Paul Greive;
- Pulaski Grow (Pulaski, Virginia), an aquaponics facility to provide local youth with job training. Team lead: Lee Spiegel;
- ScoutPro (Lone Tree, Iowa), software to assist farmers with crop maintenance. Team lead: Michael Koenig; and
- Senior Move Management (Palmyra, Missouri), customized moving and relocation services for older Americans. Team lead: Suzanne Ellerbrock.
“Strengthening rural America begins with growing entrepreneurship―business by business,” AFBF President Bob Stallman said. “Helping rural entrepreneurs turn great ideas into successful businesses in their local communities is what this competition is all about.”
The four challenge finalists will pitch their business ideas to a team of judges at the AFBF 96th Annual Convention in San Diego in January in hopes of winning the Rural Entrepreneur of the Year Award to win $15,000, and the Peoples’ Choice Award for $10,000 more. These come on top of the $15,000 each finalist has already received. In total, the challenge will provide the finalists with prize money totaling $85,000 to implement their ideas.
For more information about the challenge or the finalists, contact Cyndie Sirekis at cyndies@fb.org or Brynn Boyer at Brynn.boyer@georgetown.edu.