AROUND THE CENTER
Mandel Center Assists in Promoting the Northeast Ohio Business Plan Challenge
Cleveland Reads Wins Nonprofit Section of This Year's Challenge
Winners of the 2005 COSE Northeast Ohio Business Plan Challenge were announced at the November 14th celebration at the State Theatre at Playhouse Square. The Mandel Center would like to congratulate Catherine Thomas and Cleveland Reads for winning this year's nonprofit category of the Business Plan Challenge.
The Mandel Center worked with COSE to promote the Northeast Ohio Business Plan Challenge, which for the first time included nonprofits as a separate category in the competition. The competition was set up to help all entrants with networking opportunities and to provide feedback on business tactics, with the ultimate winners gaining funding for their organizations.
The Mandel Center assisted in the Challenge in several ways. First, the Center helped review the judging criteria for nonprofit entries. Additionally, the Center provided a list of nonprofit professionals for COSE and Crain's to contact for later rounds of plan reviews and judging. The Mandel Center also assisted in marketing and promotion, and initiated contacts with other potential partners throughout the Challenge.
All entrants received valuable feedback from experienced judges about their plans, gained access to important business-building assistance and education, and were provided opportunities to network with peers, investors and vendors.
"Since its inception, hundreds of entrepreneurs have used the Challenge as an incentive to think strategically about their businesses," said COSE Chairman Jeanne Coughlin, who is president of the Coughlin Group. "We want to continue to build on that foundation and encourage our region's entrepreneurs to keep thinking about how to make their businesses more successful."
For more information about the Challenge, please visit http://www.neochallenge.org.
