A group of five women entrepreneurs pitched their best new ideas Thursday night for a chance to win a sizable cash prize and lots of recognition.
Nonprofit Build in Tulsa held its eighth quarterly Female Founders Pitch Night, where women entrepreneurs owners get to sell their brands to a panel of judges. The first place winner gets $10,000 and mentorship from the organization.
“The prize is significant because we want this to be a jump-start for your idea," said Ashli Sims, executive director of Build in Tulsa. "The unfortunate fact is if you are a minority entrepreneur, you may not have the friends and family money that other entrepreneurs come to the table with.”
The event, which was held at the Central Branch of the Tulsa City-County Library, is in its second year.
The five entrepreneurs gave presentations highlighting their new brand and answered questions from a panel of three judges who are also local business owners.
“Really, it’s just making sure that we’re creating a fair playing field for everybody," said Desiree Freison, director of programming for Build in Tulsa. "To make sure that everyone has access to really start a business: get the resources, the capital, the training, the mentorship and the social community."
The contestants all go through roughly 8-10 hours of training for the pitch night, according to Sims.
At the end of the night, Kenya Nicole Carter with the clothing brand Shapes won the $10,000 grand prize.
“I was very nervous," Carter said, "But I’m passionate about my product and I saw the audience as friends."
A second-place prize of $5,000 and a third-place prize of $2,500 were also given out, as well as two $1,000 audience awards.
Even contestants who did not win the prize money, like Vanessa Coke, said the experience was still worthwhile.
"I gained so much from this program," Coke said, "the access to opportunities that I gained and the knowledge that I gained outweighs the prize money."
We must note that the George Kaiser Family Foundation was one of the key event sponsors. The George Kaiser Family Foundation has also been a financial supporter of KWGS.
