IFEL’s 6th Annual Business Plan Competition

Tomorrow 5 finalists will compete with a 3-minute elevator pitch to win $10,000 in cash and more! IFEL has put together an all-star panel this year for their annual conference which includes Don Katz, CEO of Audible; Kevin Liles, CEO of KWL Enterprises; Stephen McDonnell, founder of Applegate Farms; Jonathan Bulkeley, former CEO of Barnesandnoble.com; Tarrus Richardson, founder of IMB Development Corp and Brian Shields, co-founder of IncubateNYC.

Here are the five finalists competing:
The Power Breakfast by A&J Management - A & J Management hosts The Power Breakfast, high level events for Entrepreneurs, Business Owners, and Organizational Leaders. They introduce business best practices, provide excellent networking opportunities, and offer useful knowledge that can be put to work immediately by leaders to benefit an organization. *---

Learn With Me Day Care by Danielle Conto-Miller - Learn With Me Daycare provides a stimulating child-centered environment where children can grow learn and explore in a safe nurturing setting. Children are provided with an education that promotes development both physically, socially, emotionally and cognitively. Their curriculum promotes active exploration, discovery, process, and manipulation using the environment that surrounds them.

SAHSHE by Ruth Rombrun & Carron White - SAHSHÉ rises above the typical approach to beauty. Their mission is to provide women of color with a fun, convenient, and affordable way to optimize their hair care, skin care, and cosmetics regimens. For only $12 per month SAHSHÉ delivers a chic bag of 4-5 deluxe samples catering exclusively to women with rich complexions and textured hair. By tailoring the latest beauty trends to your individual style they help you "do you""”only better.

Gashie by Michael Amegashie - Gashie is a mobile, voice-over-IP technology that humanizes the international calling experience for its users. Patent-pending technology allows their platform to support any Internet-enabled device in making affordable international calls. International communication is a social need and it should be affordable, yet there are over 5.3 billion non-smart phone users that Skype, Google talk and rebtels platform can't reach. Gashie exists to solve that problem and change the way international calls are made.

Leopard Stripes Productions by Ayana Stafford - Leopard Stripes Productions is a full service media production company that specializes in creating positive youth based media. They are a team of producers and videographers that create original content and can facilitate the creation of any media package from pre to post-production.

In addition to the business plan competition, there is a day of workshops and breakout sessions hitting topics like: Micro-Niche Method, Making Your Food Product Retail-Ready, Making Social Media Work for You; Entrepreneurial Nonprofit Board; Creative ways to Save and Raise Money and more! Tickets are $45 for the conference; $85 for pitch finals & awards dinner - http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2250910534

This is a great one-month countdown to Newark Small Business Week (June 14-21) - more details coming soon!