Business Plan Competition

Our next Business Plan Competition will launch on October 4, 2009. We need people to lead workshops on business fundamentals and on how to lead with gospel-centeredness to help the competition's entrants. If you want to help, contact Calvin@Redeemer.com.

If you have recently started or about to start a new venture, this competition is designed to help you in a variety of ways: to deepen your understanding of how the Gospel will shape your venture, to benefit from the collaboration with others in your church, and to improve your business plan. Please visit the website www.faithandwork.org/competition in September for more details on process, timeline, and requirements.

 

News about our winners and finalists

Tegu [2009 For-profit winner]
Chris and Will Haughey, co-founders

Tegu has launched its venture with the mission to be a triple-bottom line toy company. In line with their desire to build a profitable, socially-impactful, and God honoring company, Tegu's founders are currently establishing a manufacturing operation in Honduras and hiring. The company expects to have its signature wooden toy blocks ready for sale for the upcoming Christmas season. Please keep track of their progress at www.tegu.com and on Twitter.

 

Restore NYC [2008 Not-for-profit winner]
Faith Huckel and Kathleen Slocum, co-founders

Restore NYC has made strides in its mission to help sex-trafficking victims in 2009 thanks to the support of the Entrepreneurship Initiative, Hope for NY, and Redeemer Presbyterian Church!

We received our first client in March and now have eight clients currently in our care. Our strategic plan remains to initially work with a targeted population (Asian women) and deliver the most effective programming during this stage and then expand to serving other groups. We foresee a quick increase to our maximum caseload of fifteen clients this summer. One reason is our relationship with the New York Asian Women's Center (NYAWC) and our collaboration with Queens Criminal Court and Midtown Manhattan Criminal Court to provide case management and support services. Due to the overwhelming demand for our services, we are moving up our hiring timetable and searching for a part- time Program Coordinator. For this reason, and due to the general economic climate, we decided to push back the start of our residential pilot program until early to mid 2010. This is in response to an immediate demand for our case management work. As we expand programming, we will need volunteer mentors to develop relationships with our clients - please let us know if you are interested in helping! Thank you so much for your support and visit us at our website for more information www.restorenyc.org

Faith Huckel and Board of Directors

Threads Theater Company [2007 Arts winner]

Come join up to 75,000 friends when Threads will present the premiere production of Afterlight by Monica Flory at the NY International Fringe Festival Aug 14-31.

Afterlight is the story of a quiet Northeastern town where a school bus accident incites a series of events that the residents cannot understand or explain. A wolf has been spotted lurking on the edge of the woods, where teenaged lovebirds Pru and Hunter meet every night. Louise finds her recently retired husband digging up the floorboards. And seven-year-old Shane keeps seeing albino monarch butterflies. The members of the community, increasingly unsettled and energized by their circumstances, are forced to confront the messy nature of grief, the fragility of hope, and the dangers of loving someone deeply. Visit www.threadstheatercompany.org for specific dates and times.
 

Nielsen Festival and Foundation (2008 Not-for-profit finalist]
Rob Maimone and Alexandra Winslow, co-founders

Lovers of classical music should come to the 3rd Nielsen Piano Festival at Sag Harbor, Long Island. There will be 5 performances during August 2 to August 23rd featuring young gifted pianists. For information on location and exact times, please click the link www.nielsenfest.org/eblast/e_blast2009k.html

News about Entrepreneurs Fellowship

The entrepreneurs' fellowship group is growing in impact and size.

The monthly entrepreneurs' fellowship group meets on the 3rd Monday of each month. The group is led by 3 entrepreneurs, Jonathan Cousar, Grace Kang, and Kristie Kang, who operate a Web hosting company, an upscale consumer gifts chain, and a personal wellness spa, respectively. They help to foster a Gospel community through monthly programs that address the challenges and rewards of being Christian entrepreneurs using their ventures to transform their cities. Please visit www.faithandwork.org/entrepreneurs for more information and to join us.

 

On May 6th we had a panel discussion "Internet Ventures: Easy to Start, Hard to Win" to address the growing number of entrepreneurs with Internet businesses. Robert Semmens, EI Steering Committee member, acted as moderator for an esteemed panel which included David Kansas, co-founder of theStreet.com and FiLife.com, Catherine Billon, founder of Riverwired.com and Greenhandsusa.com, and David Eun, Director of Partnerships with Google. They held a lively discussion on the dynamics of the industry and strategies and issues that arise for people who are trying to create sustainable Internet companies. There were 62 people who participated in this event.

 

On June 15, we held a speed networking session "How to find a mentor or coach". We had 34 attendees rotating between 14 prospective mentors/coaches where each person had 5 minutes to share their "elevator pitch" and the status of their venture. As a result, we expect to have 7 coaching groups start in the Fall. Please sign up if you would like to coach an aspiring or operating entrepreneur. www.faithandwork.org/network

Fellowship member, Jeremy Shore, of Real Strength, will launch a cable television series on Halogen network in the Fall. Please click the link to see what is in store for the Fall. www.halogentv.com/index.php/2009/07/09/sneak-peek-real-strength/ Join his group on Facebook to know when the series will come and film in your town.

 

Entrepreneurship Forum news

2009 Forum speakers, Rev. Dr. Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church (NYC) and Jessica Jackley, co-founder of Kiva.org, appeared at recent Willow Creek Leadership Summit.

2008 Forum Not-for-profit speaker, Scott Harrison and Charity:Water, the charity he founded, were featured in an article in the New York Times. http://bit.ly/yfRgm

 

Taproot Theatre Company [featured in 2007 Forum]

This August 13 & 14 Taproot Theatre Company is coming to the Big Apple and the NY Int'l Fringe Festival with "Camp Super Friend". The show deals with bullying and harassment. Follow the link www.fringenyc.org/About/jr.asp for descriptions of the play and pending performances! For more information on Taproot, use this link www.taproot.org/