Two Enid businesses faired well in the latest grant contest. T and C Meats, an Enid company, won the $5,000 cash prize Wednesday night in the Dream Big Cherokee Strip competition. Enid Buzz, another Enid business, had won the prior stage of the contest, receiving 2250 votes in the Facebook voting.
According to contest officials this contest had the most votes they'd ever received in a Dream Big Oklahoma contest. Facebook votes helped bring voters to the contest website which helped attract more attention to the contest. With over 40 incubators in Oklahoma, there is huge potential for entrepreneurs to build or expand their business ideas.
Dream Big Oklahoma is an annual entrepreneurial competition created by Rogers State University Innovation Center. The ultimate goals are to help start or expand businesses, create jobs and increase revenue in all regions of the state.
The Dream Big Oklahoma Grant Contest was open to residents of the State of Oklahoma of the Counties of Garfield, Grant, Noble, Kingfisher, Major, Alfalfa, Woods, Woodward, and Kay. Participants could not have more than 20 employees.
The top two dreams receiving the most Facebook votes and the top two judges picks are asked to pitch their big dreams to a panel of business experts. The top four entries competed in the pitch-off event. Each finalist had five minutes to pitch their business concept to a panel of three judges. The judges were from Enid, Ponca City and Stillwater.
Businesses in the initial competition included a salon and spa, a guitar store, a real estate agency, a meat market, a vapor business, an up-cycle store, a college student, a cigar and jazz club, an event planning company and more.
T and C Meats used a prerecord video as their pitch to the judges. They are currently working with the developers of Stonebridge Properties at Cleveland and Chestnut. They hope to soon open a European style meat market to serve that area of Enid. They also presented their current business plan at the pitch.
Curtis Tucker, creator and owner of Enid Buzz, felt he stood a good chance in the pitch round because of his background in speaking and teaching classes at Autry Tech. "Ultimately it comes down to the people with the money", Tucker said, "They'll most likely be judging on presentation, idea and more importantly, how you plan to use the money."
Although Enid Buzz didn't win, judges expressed real interest in the idea and complimented Tucker on his pitch. The judges were impressed with the T and C Meats overall plan and ability to put more people to work. They will now move on to the state wide competition for a chance at $20,000.
Tucker was very impressed with the large turnout of family, friends and Buzz Heads, as he calls them. He said, "If they had given a peoples choice award, I think I would have easily won!"
