Launching a new business can be frightening but if you don’t give it a try you’ll never know if you have the next best business idea.  If you have an idea for a new business and want to start it in the Peoria IL Metro Region, the LAUNCH Business Idea Competition could be the key to making that dream of Launching your own business come true. 

The LAUNCH Business Plan Competition is open to anyone who has a new business idea for the Peoria Illinois Metro area.  There is no application fee but the application deadline is September 7, 2010.  Applications will be reviewed by a panel and contestants will then be assigned to one of the three preliminary round locations.  Preliminary rounds will be held on 9/28, 9/29, and 9/30 in three different parts of the Peoria Illinois Metro Region.  The finals will be hosted at the Peoria NEXT Innovation Center on 10/13. 

All contestants who present their plans in the preliminary rounds will receive feedback and suggestions from the panel of judges.  The winner will receive cash prizes and a multitude of general business consulting services to get their business up and running properly including: 

• $5,000 cash
• Website & 2 hours of consulting from OIC Group
• Business cards & letterhead from MultiAd
• Professional portrait from V Gallery
• Merchandise from Lincoln Office
• Golf passes from Weaver Ridge
• Consulting services from: an HR consultant; CPA; attorney; insurance specialist; banker

This competition is brought to you by the East Peoria, Pekin and Peoria Area Chambers of Commerce, the Peoria NEXT Innovation Center, Morton Economic Development Council, SCORE, and Bradley University’s Turner Center for Entrepreneurship and the Bradley Technology Commercialization Center.

For more information visit www.launchnewbiz.com or contact Ken Klotz, Director, Turner Center for Entrepreneurship at Bradley University at (309) 677-2992 or sbdc@bradley.edu.