If you’re among the 30 schools — and counting — that have applied for e-Fest development grants for 2018, that grant will bring lasting benefits whether or not your team makes the finals.
Mary Kate Naatus, who advised the 2017 student team from Saint Peter’s University in Jersey City, said the feedback from the judges in the preliminary rounds was indispensable, even though her team was not one of the 25 that went to Minneapolis last April for the e-Fest finals. “We now have a mentoring program to help our students who enter to create a more professional video pitch,” she said. “We are in the process of launching a new course in social entrepreneurship at our university as well.”
In addition to the feedback from judges, Naatus lists these benefits resulting from the school’s e-Fest grant:
- Development of 2 video pitches using professional equipment, which were submitted to the EIX competition (filmed and edited by a student entrepreneur).
- Support of a student entrepreneur who won the campus Shark Tank competition to compete at the state level at Princeton University in the statement U-Pitch NJ competition.
- Support for a summer mini Shark Tank competition in our Academic Success Program (accepted students who needed additional preparation for college)
- Support for our Entrepreneur mentors to work with our students in refining their business plans and presentations.
For many small schools, an e-Fest grant helps provide more mentoring and competition opportunities for students. For schools with more full-blown entrepreneurship programs, the grant can help students validate and accelerate their ventures and flex their communications skills. Either way your school’s entrepreneurship programs come out ahead. Sign up today!
