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Student Entrepreneurs Introduce Ideas, Receive Venture Funding Awards at MCC Entrepreneurship Day (11/15/2019)

Note: This is an ARCHIVED news release. Information in this article may have changed since this was published.

Oushawndra Apple Chavers student entrepreneur(Pictured right) 2018 Launch Your Business! winner Oushawndra "Apple" Chavers '18 (Hairestry by Lucid) will share her success story at Entrepreneurship Day, Friday, November 22 at MCC's Downtown Campus.

To inspire entrepreneurs and connect them to available resources to start or grow a business in Rochester and the Finger Lakes region, Monroe Community College and the MCC Foundation in collaboration with the Everyday Entrepreneur Venture Fund will host the second annual Entrepreneurship Day, 7:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22 at MCC’s Downtown Campus, 321 State St., Rochester. The event is free and open to the public. Registration is required at www.monroecc.edu/go/eday/.

Entrepreneurship Day offers a community resource expo, networking opportunities, sessions on ways to turn ideas into businesses, resource and funding panel sessions, and presentations from successful entrepreneurs. Keynote presenters include Robert J. Duffy, Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, and Salvatore “Soccer Sam” Fantauzzo, CEO and founder of Salvatore’s Old Fashion Pizzeria.

Attendees will also hear from MCC alumni and students who successfully pitched new businesses as part of the Launch Your Business! Challenge. After completing the MCC Corporate College Launch Your Business! Certificate Series over the summer and working with mentors from the local business community, 14 aspiring entrepreneurs are now vying for up to $50,000 in venture funding made possible by the Everyday Entrepreneur Venture Fund and the MCC Foundation.

In 2017, MCC was one of four U.S. community colleges selected by Chip Weismiller, formerly of Rochester, and his wife, Stuart (Rowayton, Conn.), to receive funding from the Everyday Entrepreneur Venture Fund to help students launch community-based businesses. This event reinforces how MCC is a place where successful entrepreneurs can get their start.

Launch Your Business! is led by MCC’s School of Business & Entrepreneurial Studies, the Economic and Workforce Development Center, and the MCC Foundation.

To learn more about Entrepreneurship Day, visit www.monroecc/edu/go/eday/ or contact Kathleen Borbee, professor of business administration & economics, at kborbee@monroecc.edu.

About Everyday Entrepreneur Venture Fund
The Everyday Entrepreneur Venture Fund launches committed community college entrepreneurs into business, with a focus on community-based startups, scale-ups of existing alumni businesses and the implementation of proven, replicable business models. Other colleges establishing similar programs with support from Everyday Entrepreneur Venture Fund include Hillsborough Community College (Tampa, Fla.), Middlesex Community College (Lowell, Mass.) and Wayne County Community College District (Detroit, Mich.).

About the MCC Foundation
The Monroe Community College Foundation seeks philanthropic investment to advance academic achievement, innovation, and the mission of excellence at the College. The MCC Foundation is ranked No. 1 among SUNY community colleges for total support.

Media Contact:
Rosanna Yule
Government and Community Relations
585-292-3024
ryule@monroecc.edu