The Lead.
The community is invited to watch an exciting “Shark Tank”-style competition on Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023 at Marion Technical College. Top local entrepreneurs will pitch their business ideas in front of a panel of local judges. The winners will be awarded thousands of dollars in prize money. The evening begins at 5:30 p.m. in Health Technologies Center with a networking social with appetizers from A Taste of Memphis. The live “Shark Tank”-style competition begins at 6 p.m.
“This is an exhilarating night. If you want to support local business owners, come and join us,” said Mike Augenstein, director of Workforce Solutions at Marion Tech. “At the end of the night, the top winner will walk away with $2,500 in prize money. Don’t miss it!”
The competitors are chosen from participants in this year’s round of Forge Business Classes Sponsored by Alluvial Private Wealth and Showplace Rentals. They must attend all of the classes and submit a business plan in advance of the competition. Each competitor will present their vision to the audience and answer questions from the panel of local judges. Each business owner will be score on innovation, value creation, feasibility, community impact and quality of the presentation. Cash prizes will be awarded to the top winner and several runners up.
The free business classes are open to anyone with a small business in Marion or those planning to open one. Since 2017, participants have sparked or grown a number of MarionMade! businesses and nonprofits, including Ability Vending, Attaboys, A Taste of Memphis, Busy B Cleaning, the Explore-It-Torium Children’s Museum, Harding Harbor Seafood, Jordan Energy Alternative, Leading Ladies (now the Legacy Mentoring Group), Painless Fleet Maintenance, Presidential Cleaning Services, Sights Unseen Travel, Spruce and Sparrow, and the Sweada Mae Art Café. They have created dozens of new jobs.
The 2017 Leadership Marion class of the Marion Area Chamber of Commerce founded the Forge after a study that showed Marion needed more small businesses, which are key to building wealth in a community. For more information, including a list of past winners, click here.
