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2023 HCC Business Plan Competition

Announces Winners & Graduates!

Awards Ceremony & Reception Celebration


We celebrated all teams and their advisors on June 13th, after four months of training and advising, with twenty-nine teams graduating from the competition. Seed money was awarded to the top five teams. 


Competition leaders led the program starting with these entrepreneurial champions addressing the crowd: David Regenbaum, Entrepreneur-in-Residence and Immediate Past Chairman of the Board, HCC Foundation; Dr. Zachary Hodges, President HCC Northwest; and Dr. Maya Durnovo, Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Entrepreneurial Initiatives Officer, HCC District.


Next, came a celebration of the competition's 16th Anniversary with recognition of past leaders from Newspring, past trainers, judges, advisors and competition alumni by Sandra Louvier, Director of the Glenda & David Regenbaum Center for Entrepreneurship. David and Sandra followed that with a review of the 2023 HCC Business Plan Competition journey, with recognition of partners, sponsors and alumni speakers. Next, came a celebration of our 2023 graduates and announcement of in-kind prizes valued at $69,000 awarded to all graduating teams. All of this built up to the introduction of our finalists and the awarding of $26,000 in seed money to the top five teams!

Congratulations to our Winners!

1st Place - $12,000 - Mommy and Me: The Listers

Crystal Williams-Lister

Advisors - Princess Mokolo and Patty Sobelman

2nd Place - $8,000 - RE.STATEMENT

Hannah Le

Advisors: Barbara Reiff and Brittany Grayson

3rd Place - $4,000 - Keeping Your Parents Safe

Barbara Wogh

Advisor: Lalitha Raman and Denise Langabeer

Honorable Mention - $1,000 - CyFair Psychological Group of Texas PLLC

Tracy Johnson

Team Members: Anayah Johnson and Jeffrey Johnson

Advisors: Edward Popoola & Ramona Sanders

Honorable Mention - $1,000 - Loving Lacquer Cosmetics

Kimberly Loving

Advisors: Kim Roxie and Ana Pereda

Meet our Winners - 1- Minute Intro Video From Each

2023 HCC Business Plan Competition

Graduating Teams & Advisors

Congratulations to our

2023 HCC Business Plan Competition Graduates


The goal of the HCC Business Plan Competition is to empower all teams accepted into the competition training and mentoring and through the opportunity to build that into the refinement and polishing of written plans that are submitted in May.  


Twenty-nine teams completed six competition training sessions, participated in one-on-one advising with their advisors, and met deadlines to submit written plans, presentation slides and one-minute videos in May!  


2023 HCC Business Plan Competition 

29 Graduating Teams

 and the Competition Delivery Team

The Competition Journey


We celebrated HCC Business Plan Competition's 16th Anniversary with pics of winners, graduates, sponsors and leaders and partners throughout the years. We also reviewed the 2023 Competition Journey for this Graduating Cohort. See below for our digital year book. It includes more pics of all of our 2023 graduates, competition events and training and the big buildup to announcement of our winners!


Digital Year Book

2023 Graduating Teams & Their Advisors

The greatest prize has already been set in motion by all finalists and graduating teams with: the training, advising, group inspiration, galvanizing team work, lessons learned and milestones achieved. The experience and connections can keep on giving as well.

 

We celebrated all twenty-nine teams and their advisors on June 13th.


HCC Business Plan Competition Awards Ceremony

June 13, 2023 - Photo Web Album I


We have even more photos to share! Click below for more from our Awards Ceremony Celebration with all of the fun leading up to and after the announcement of our winners! 


 HCC Business Plan Competition Awards Ceremony

June 13, 2023 - Photo Web Album II


Who was there: We surrounded our 2023 winners and graduates with the support of the Houston entrepreneurial eco-system! They were cheered on by competition leaders, sponsors, funders, advisors, judges, trainers, family, friends, community partners and alumni from past competitions to welcome them into our alumni network for support and connections as they move forward.


We thanked our sponsors and our competition judges; Nasr Khan, Wallis Bank; Michi B. Clay, LiftFund; Gary Henderson, Stellar Bank; Oscar Martinez, Frost Bank; Harry Leach, Capital CDC; & Nannette Ray, Faith in Business Foundation.


We also thanked our long-standing community partners including the Small Business Administration, SCORE, the University of Houston SBDC and SURE programs, City of Houston Mayor's Office of Business Opportunity, Liftoff Houston Startup Competition and the Houston Area Urban League. 


Thanks also to all of the competition alumni from past years who came to support our 2023 graduates and thanks to those alumni who spoke at our ceremony to offer words of inspiration and encouragement: Tiffany Williams (2016), Janice Jucker (2015), Arneisha Sadler (2020), Kiley Summers (2017), Susan Repka (2022) and Kim Roxie (2014).


It was a day of celebration for what they have achieved and for what lies ahead!

HCC Thanks our 

2023 HCC Business Plan Competition Sponsors

Platinum Sponsor

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

Bronze Sponsors

Alumni Sponsors

In-Kind Sponsors

More about our Sponsors - The Entities and The People!

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About the Glenda & David Regenbaum Center for Entrepreneurship

HCC Northwest

 

OUR MISSION: To help entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses.

We do this by offering workshops, seminars, summits, classes and competitive training and advising, while also providing practical knowledge, resources and connections. We are also known for three Signature Programs: the Annual HCC Business Plan Competition, now in its 15th year; the Small Business Success Series by by HCC©; and the HCC Mattress Mack School of Selling©.



Contact us at c4e@hccs.edu or 713-718-6650

Houston Community College Wins 2022 Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers Award for Excellence in Specialty Entrepreneurship Education


Houston-based academic group called out top universities and programs from around the world — including one in Houston and another in Texas — that are excelling in educating future entrepreneurs at the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers Conference in October.

The GCEC is a consortium of more than 250 university entrepreneurship programs that is headquartered at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business, which has been named a top entrepreneurship program itself time and time again. Houston Community College's Office of Entrepreneurial Initiatives (led by Dr. Maya Durnovo) won in the Excellence in Specialty Entrepreneurship Education category for programming that serves women and minority owned businesses. GCEC Award-Innovation Map Article

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Houston Community College Wins 2022 Bellwether Award for Entrepreneurial Initiatives


Houston Community College has won the 2022 Bellwether Award for its outstanding and innovative workforce development program: HCC’s Entrepreneurial Initiatives. The Bellwether Awards are widely regarded as one of the nation’s most competitive and prestigious recognitions for community colleges. Dr. Maya Durnovo, HCC’s chief entrepreneurial initiatives officer leads HCC’s mission of helping entrepreneurs start and grow businesses to bolster the local economy, create jobs and build Houston’s ecosystem by starting and growing small businesses, including minority-, veteran- and women-owned businesses. Dr. Durnovo said. “I am so fortunate to have a highly motivated and passionate team that strives for excellence in everything they do.”

Houston Community College Receives 2021 Diversity In Business Award from the Houston Business Journal!


Congratulations to all students, faculty, staff, entrepreneurs (aspiring & existing); and to all our community participants, supporters, volunteers, partners and sponsors who collaborate with us to make awards like this possible! Congratulations also to all of the other honorees and awardees! 


#WeAreHCC # HoustonStrong #HBJDiversity


NACCE Award 2

Houston Community College 

2020 Entrepreneurial College of the Year


The Houston Community College System was selected as the winner of the 2020 Entrepreneurial College of the Year award by the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE) at NACCE's annual conference, where entrepreneurial colleges from across the U.S. gather to share best practices. On behalf of all of our entrepreneurial programs and staff, we thank all of the entrepreneurs, partners, sponsors, volunteers, students, and HCC faculty and staff who have contributed to our efforts! Without your support and dedication to our programs, this wouldn't have been possible!