Business Competition Sees Boost in Female Participants

June 10, 2014

The Minnesota Cup is an annual competition that shines spotlights on business innovations in our state. As semifinalists were named yesterday, organizers also noted a surge in women participating in the competition.

Approximately 34 percent of the entries this year were led by women and 45 percent of teams had at least one woman on board. In the 10 years of the Cup, those are the highest percentages of female involved, a spokesperson said. In previous years, female participation was at about 25 percent.

Earlier this year, the Cup held a Women’s Entrepreneur Event with discussions of business start-ups and advice on running a business.

The Cup has seven categories in its annual completion: high tech, energy/clean tech/water, general, life science/health IT, social entrepreneur, student, and a new category this year, food/agriculture/beverage.

In each category, 10 semifinalists were named, all of whom now advance to the next round in which they’ll assemble a business plan. They will also meet a competition review board as they vie for a slice of the $300,000 awarded in the Cup.

Division winners will be awarded $30,000 each, except for the winners of the social entrepreneur and student divisions, who will each get $20,000. Runners-up in the divisions will receive $5,000.

A single grand prize winner will be chosen from among the seven division champs; the grand prize is an additional $50,000.

Finalists will be announced in August; a grand prize winner will be announced at a University of Minnesota event on September 10.

Business owners are in competition with one another every day. An experienced business attorney can help entrepreneurs with complex aspects of law involving taxes, planning, real estate, litigation and more.

Source: Finance & Commerce, “Women boost presence in 2014 Minnesota Cup,” James Warden, June 9, 2014

This information is general in nature and should not be construed as tax or legal advice.