Students, enter for the chance to present your product or service idea to Fletcher’s Extreme Inclusion conference participants and industry experts in private equity, financial services and social enterprise!
Entrant Eligibility:
The competition is open to individuals and teams of full-time students from all Boston-area colleges and universities. Projects must address the needs of traditionally marginalized populations in the US and abroad. Projects can be nonprofit, for-profit or a hybrid but should demonstrate sustainability.
Products or services must be your original idea.
All semi-finalists will be invited to attend the Extreme Inclusion Conference and Practitioner Roundtables on May 2-3, 2013, where they will be able to present their product ideas to a panel of experienced judges, and will compete to pitch their start-up to the full conference audience. The actual semi-finalist pitches will on the afternoon of May 2. Semi-finalists will be responsible for arranging their own transportation to and accommodation at the event.
Entry Requirements:
Please submit an entry of no more than 500 words and up to two exhibits that addresses the following components by April 15, 2013 to fletcherextremeinclusion@gmail.com.
• List of team members’ names and their academic affiliation and year of graduation
• Social Problem Addressed: What is the social issue that your product or service seeks to address?
• Product or Service Description: What product or service will you provide? Why is this product or service unique? How will it solve the problem you are seeking to address?
• Target Audience and Market Size: What population will you target? What is the rough size of the market for your product or service? (Please include a rough calculation and a list of key assumptions.)
• Marketing Efforts: How will you market your product or service?
• Financial Sustainability: What are your initial costs and revenues? How will the product be financially sustainable?
Submission Deadline: April 15, 2013 at midnight EST.
Judging Process:
Phase 1: The first phase of judging will be based on entrants’ written proposals.
• A committee of individuals with expertise in financial inclusion will evaluate the written applications.
• Five semi-finalists will be selected and notified by April 22.
• All semi-finalists must submit a paragraph and one slide summarizing their idea that will be printed and displayed in the conference lobby so that participants can select their favorite pitch. Finalists' materials must be submitted by April 26.
Phase 2: The second phase of judging will be based on in-person pitches that will take place on May 2 at the Extreme Inclusion Conference.
• Selected participants will pitch their ideas to the full audience of conference attendees on May 2.
• The panel of judges will then select one winner and one first runner-up. The audience will also vote to select a recipient of the “Audience Choice” award.
Questions?
For more information, please contact Jamilah Welch at fletcherextremeinclusion@gmail.com.
For sample submissions and more prize information visit us at http://fletcher.tufts.edu/ExtremeInclusion.