Startup Talk: Boot Camps, Seminars & Award Nominations

Editor’s note: Each Thursday, Talk Business & Politics provides “Startup Talk,” a round-up of startup, technology and entrepreneurial news in our email newsletter, which you can sign up to receive daily for free here.

ARKANSAS CITIES TO PARTICIPATE IN FOOD ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROJECT: Three Arkansas cities were named Wednesday to participate in a federal program to provide support to integrate local food programs into community economic action plans.

Flippin, North Little Rock and Osceola were among seven communities in the Delta selected to participate in the “Local Foods, Local Places” program.

In the program, a team of agricultural, transportation, environmental, public health and regional economic experts will work directly with the communities to develop specifically identified local food projects. Read more on the program at this link.

PITCH DAY FOR PRE-ACCELERATOR ENTREPRENEURS IS DEC. 16: A program from the Arkansas Venture Center aims to help startups over a 14-week period starting in January, but interested entrepreneurs need to have their sales pitches ready on Dec. 16.

The AVC is inviting interested participants to its “Pitch Day,” which could lead to enrollment in a 14-week pre-accelerator program that helps young companies fast track their ideas to market. Early-stage companies are invited to a program on Tuesday, December 16 to pitch ideas to a panel of Venture Center mentors. Entrepreneurs will each give a 5-minute pitch. For a rundown on the program, click here.

APPLICANTS SOUGHT FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP BOOT CAMP: Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, the Clinton School of Public Service, the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub and the University of Arkansas Office of Entrepreneurship will host a Social Entrepreneurship Boot Camp to be held July 17-19, 2015, at the Rockefeller Institute on Petit Jean Mountain.

Applications for the boot camp, which can be made here, will be accepted now through Jan. 31.

The boot camp will provide training for new and aspiring social entrepreneurs, focusing on such topics as business skills, legal issues, scalability, measuring impact, ethics and benefit corporations. Participants will also receive one-on-one mentoring from established business leaders and social enterprise experts. Individual or team applications will be accepted.

ARKANSAS STATE SBTDC TO HOST SMALL BUSINESS SEMINARS IN PARAGOULD: Three workshops designed to offer information about starting a business and growing an existing business will be offered by the Arkansas State University Small Business and Technology Development Center (ASBTDC) Friday, Dec. 5, at the Paragould Regional Chamber of Commerce.

“Starting a Business in Arkansas” will be from 9-10 a.m.; followed by “Market Research: High Quality and In-Depth Analysis for Small Business” from 11 a.m.-12:00 p.m., and “How to Write a Business Plan” from 1-2 p.m. Read more at this link.

SBA SEEKING ENTREPRENEURIAL NOMINEES: The U.S. Small Business Administration Arkansas District Office nominees for its 2015 National Small Business Week Awards event in May. Nominations are being accepted through January 5, 2015.

The Arkansas Small Business Person of the Year will be selected based on number of years in business, growth in employees, increase in sales, innovations in product or service, response to adversity, and contributions to the community.

For a full rundown of other categories for nomination and information on how to nominate a person or business, contact Carol Silverstrom with the SBA at 501-296-3027 or [email protected].