Delta Challenge Sparks Ideas At Jonesboro Forum

A group of judges heard presentations Saturday from everyone from barbecue sauce makers to a WiFi sports broadcasting owner to see if their ideas were up to the challenge.

There were ten different groups that presented ideas during the 1st annual Delta Challenge at the Arkansas State University Delta Center for Economic Development.

The program, sponsored by the Delta Regional Authority, gives budding entrepreneurs an opportunity to present their ideas with a chance to participate in the New Orleans Entrepreneur Week event March 25-27.

Judges selected three winners – Flowood, Mississippi based WiFi Streaming Network, Memphis-based Bluff City BBQ Supply, Jonesboro-based Evest Web and one alternate, Little Rock-based Makepaper – to participate in the event.

Delta Regional Authority co-chairman Chris Masingill said the program will help the entrepreneurs and others like them to put their ideas into practice in an economically depressed area of the country.

“We want to be the conduit and bridge for the region,” Masingill said of the program.

Masingill also said new businesses, whatever the size, need three main constants – talent to get the job done, capital to finance the work, and infrastructure to get projects started.

PRESENTATIONS
The participants were given three minutes each to present their ideas to the judges. From there, the judges asked the participants questions about their product during a one-minute rapid fire session.

Several of the participants took time to detail what their products do and explain the need for them.

Charlie Helms, who owns WiFi Streaming Network, said his company helps local schools with marketing and broadcasting their sporting events.

The company uses WiFi technology to broadcast the games online, while the school districts being able to market themselves online using websites. The company also gives students an opportunity to learn broadcast journalism, Helms said, noting the company has grown from three schools in 2010 to nearly 30 this year.

Lee Quessenbury and Peter Grumbles spoke about their barbecue sauce company, Bluff City BBQ Supply.

Quessenbury, who lives in Jonesboro, said the company has marketed its hot and mild barbecue sauce, along with an all-purpose rub and hickory steak seasoning, for several years. The decision to work with barbecue was a family affair, Quessenbury said, noting his father, Jim, won several barbecue contests in the 1980s and 1990s.

Grumbles, who lives in Olive Branch, Miss., said the sauce is made at a Memphis cannery and is sold at grocery stores in northeast Arkansas. Both men said their products have been well received and that about 30 percent of their sales have come from online orders.

Grumbles said the company has shipped sauces to Australia, Ireland and Canada in recent months.

Evest Web is a cross between investing and social media, its owner said.

Jason Stinnett, a former stockbroker, told the judges he wanted to capitalize on the nearly 100 million people who are interested in the stock market as well as social media.

“It will be easy to navigate,” Stinnett said of the company’s new website.

The website – still in the Beta testing phase – will allow users to look up information and real-time quotes for companies, as well as getting an education on the complex issue, Stinnett said.

Readers will also see a bull or a bear icon – the symbols for good and bad stocks – under the company’s logo.

When asked by a judge about regulations in the field, Stinnett said the website’s goal is simple.

“It is about providing a forum, not providing advice,” Stinnett said.

He also said the website would seek to capitalize on the success of social media websites like Facebook.

Maria Hampton said her business venture will create a virtual “dashboard” for companies.

The business, MakePaper, will help companies track hashtags and manage social media contests.

Hampton, who attended the 2013 New Media Accelerator program in San Francisco, said companies have increasingly used Twitter and other websites to build up their marketing. However, there is no way to track who is participating or even if they are eligible to participate, Hampton told the judges.

She said she was hopeful that the project could be completed by the end of the summer, with capital needed to hire computer coders to help with the program.

Emily Reeves, one of the judges who works as the director of digital innovation for Stone Ward in Little Rock, said the event helped bring new ideas to the surface. Reeves said the ideas and products were judged fairly and that every person who presented an idea Saturday came away with something.