Though I arrived late and had to leave a few minutes early, I thoroughly enjoyed the Eastern North Carolina Entrepreneurship Summit last Monday. I arrived just in time for the Top 3 business plan presentations.
Johnny Grimes with Broadside Software, Inc. (3rd place) presented information on his company’s database management system. It was frightening to hear that only 6% of companies who experience unexpected downtime will survive. He’s been working on this system for many years and has made it customizable for businesses.
Mona Amin from Freshspire, Inc. (2nd place) started her company with four high school classmates. (She’s only a freshman in college now!) Grocery stores throw out approximately $2300 worth of food every day. Freshspire helps grocery stores sell their less-than-optimal food to people on a budget or with a desire to save big.
Gregg Givens from WebHearing, Inc. (1st place) is an audiologist and described how 8 million Americans have no access to hearing healthcare. He and his partner (an electrical engineer) have designed a way to test hearing for people in rural areas. Very cool!
The keynote address was to be Melanie Bergeron (Chair of Two Men and a Truck). Unfortunately, due to travel delays, she was not able to make it. However, two other entrepreneurs stepped in. The first was a franchisee of Two Men and a Truck, and he talked about the company and how his business has grown. The second was Inez Ribustello from On the Square restaurant in Tarboro, NC. She talked about becoming a sommelier, her time in NYC up until 9/11, and starting up On the Square. She also talked about the brewery that they will be opening in the spring.
A big thanks to all who made this event happen. I look forward to next year!
