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The Houston Small Business Competition offers seed money
The Liftoff Houston Entrepreneur Competition is designed to help people with business ideas get seed funding.
Houston – For big businesses in Houston, the city is one of the top places in the country for small business growth.
By any measure, Houston depends on small businesses, which the government defines as companies with fewer than 500 employees. That describes 97% of businesses in the region.
For starters, the city’s annual LiftHouston Entrepreneur Competition is designed to help people with business ideas become a part of it.
Click here for more information on small business
Lyndsey Brantley knows firsthand. She started her skin care and spa business six years ago by developing some products that you can’t find in stores.
“I look forward to going to the building every day and seeing everything we’ve built,” she said.
Brantley’s big break came when he won a $10,000 prize from Liftoff Houston to help boost small business growth. The seed money helps fund the winning business pitch, and includes education and mentoring from executives who have walked the same path.
“You’ll learn how to put your business plan together. The goal, ultimately, is to get you bankable so you can get the money you need. Invest in your business,” says Lala Morris of the Houston Business Opportunities Office.
With her victory in hand, Brantley established her full-service Camellia Alise spa, in the Montrose neighborhood, as a home base to grow her business.
Related: $20 million is available for a variety of Houston-area small businesses, nonprofit organizations.
Skin care products are the foundation of a multi-million dollar beauty business, and Brantley is now taking what she’s learned and paying it forward by teaching others how to do the same.
Her college degree was a far cry from being a structural engineer who gave her the chance to follow her passion.
“The competition is not about winning the money,” Brantley says. “It’s about taking advantage of the mentoring opportunity; see if your idea is something that can actually be taken up. That’s the benefit of the program.”
There are three $10,000 prizes from the Liftoff Houston contest. For those who haven’t won, there is education, insight and mentoring that can point the way to starting a successful business.
The application deadline is Friday, August 19.
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