Timeline

The competition will be conducted in several phases with the following timeline:

October 4, 2009       Phase 1: Launch Competition with insert at Services
October 8, 2009       Info Session 1 (Redeemer Offices 11th Floor 7PM-830PM)
October 11, 2009     Info Session 2 (Hunter 507 West 12PM-130PM)
October 21, 2009     Info Session 3 (Redeemer Offices 11th Floor 7PM-830PM)
October 24, 2009     Workshop 1 "Developing a Gospel-Centered Venture"
November 10, 2009 Deadline for applications submission
November 15, 2009 Evaluation of applications begins
December 9, 2009    Workshop 2 "4 M's-Mission, Market, Model, Management”
December 10, 2009 Phase 2: Entrants notified to submit a full business plan
January 7, 2010       Workshop 3 "Start-Up Finance Fundamentals"
January 12, 2010     One on One Coaching
January 19, 2010     Deadline for business plan submissions
January 22, 2010     Evaluation of business plans begin
February 24, 2010   Notification of Not-For-Profit finalists
March 3, 2010          Notification of For-Profit finalists
March 10, 2010        Not-For-Profit: final presentations before jury
March 18, 2010        For-Profit: final presentations before jury
March 24, 2010        Winners announced

Phase 1: Application Submissions of Executive Summary (with your resume and the name and contact information of a Redeemer or Affiliate Church member as your reference)

The Application Form will close at 11:59pm on Tuesday, November 10.

Executive summaries will be a MAXIMUM of 3 pages.

Phase 2:  Application and Executive Summary Screening
The business plan committee will consist of members from CFW staff and partners who will screen the executive summaries, check references, and contact promising candidates via phone to accept them into the next round. These candidates will receive feedback in order to improve their plans for the last round.

Phase 3:  Business Plan Submissions
Business Plans will be a MAXIMUM of 8 pages (including financials).

Phase 4:  Panel Review

A group of finalists for both categories will be selected from this pool.  The panels for all categories will have approximately seven days to review the plans before the final presentations.

Phase 5:  Finalist Presentations

Finalists will present their business plans to the judges in an open session. Each team will have five to seven minutes to present their business plan.  Then the judges will also have up to seven minutes to ask each team questions. There will be a separate presentation for the for-profit and the not-for-profit categories.

Phase 6:  Winners Selected

The judges will convene after the presentations.  The winners will be selected based on meeting the business plan criteria.