November 2011
The Alberta Business Family Institute (ABFI) is proud to be a partner in the Perfect Pitch for the second year in a row – an exciting and innovative competition aimed at rural Alberta youth and growing rural entrepreneurship.
In three minutes or less, competitors had to convince a panel of judges the value of their rural or agriculture based business idea with a prepared elevator speech. This year the competition was a partnership between FarmOn.com, Community Futures East Parkland, and Creating Pathways for Entrepreneurial Families (CPEF) – the rural project of ABFI.
ABFI, at the Alberta School of Business, established Creating Pathways as the community outreach arm of the Family Enterprise Initiative. It aims to provide families in rural Alberta with the opportunity to obtain business resources, knowledge and skills. With funding from the Rural Alberta Development Fund, ABFI and CPEF offer programs to rural families to assist with financial and business planning, provide business mentorship, assist in succession planning and provide insights into planning the perfect retirement – complete with legacy planning. Perfect Pitch builds on this by targeting rural youth, giving them the opportunity to grow their business skills over a lifetime of experiences.
“Supporting rural Albertans and their business ventures is a priority for the Alberta School of Business and ABFI,” said Shauna Feth, ABFI executive director. “Initiatives like Perfect Pitch allow us to work directly with youth and their families, as well as raise awareness of rural entrepreneurship.”
After the initial pitch, judges selected five finalists to move forward to the second stage of the competition where they received business coaching and planning support for the implementation of their idea. Fans were able to follow the journey of the finalists through the help of video blogs and updates. The competition culminated with a final event at Farm Fair on November 9, 2011.
Participants presented their polished business pitches and winner, Lisa Rohr was awarded $25,000 for her company Business IQ. Congratulations Lisa!
You can check out Lisa’s Perfect Pitch:
