Capital region creatives are already geeked about Ignite Lansing 2.0, the Sept. 25 mixer at the Old Town Temple Building featuring five-minute presentations of whatever people are passionate about.
Now, piggybacking on the event is the new Eve of Ignite! event.
From 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sept. 24, five to 10 Michigan State University (MSU) students will present their business ideas, according to Bunmi Akinyemiju, a founder of EnlivenSoftware and one of the event planners.
The location has not yet been determined. Each contestant will be judged by a panel of professionals. Top applicants to the competition will get tickets to Ignite Lansing the next day and much more.
Behind it all is YSG, the acronym for Young, Smart, Global. It is a group of people who have been meeting to create mechanisms to kick-start the Capital region’s economy, and ultimately that of the Great Lakes area.
YSG collaborates with others. To produce Eve of Ignite, it is partnering with Spotlight Michigan, a group of graduate students working to invigorate the local economy.
The winner of Eve of Ignite will head for the new YSG Mentor Me program, featuring 35 local chief executive officers pledged to work one-on-one with prospective entrepreneurs.
The winner will also receive access to Skunkworks, a new program offering support and tools for enterprisers. (East Lansing’s soon-to-open The Hatch is part of the Skunkworks network in development.)
“These student innovators are the prize and hope of transforming this region,” says Akinyemiju.
Source: Bunmi Akinyemiju, Enliven Software
Gretchen Cochran, Innovation & Jobs editor, may be reached here.
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