On Wednesday, October 25, 2017, the community celebrated local entrepreneurship at The Cottage Grove Business Challenge Gala. New Breed Seed and the Cottage Grove business community made this very special opportunity possible, in partnership with the Cottage Grove Community Development Corporation, Cottage Grove Chamber of Commerce, and RAIN Eugene. The lively event, held at the Village Green Resort, was emceed by Lori Bumgardner, a well-known local consultant.
$10,000 was donated by New Breed Seed to be given as cash awards to three local entrepreneurs to jump-start their operations. Twenty-four local businesses responded to the challenge by submitting executive summaries for their respective business or idea. The diverse group of entrants represented a variety of industries that included local food & beverage manufacturing, education, nutrition, and others. Congratulations to finalists Real Live Food Oregon, Sohr Performance + Nutrition, and our first place winner Sanity Chocolate for putting the award money to good use in our local economy.
“This experiment was a big success. I suspect we’ll do it again.” Lauren Jerome of RAIN Eugene told the crowd.
As the Gala came to a close, the room was abuzz with positive energy and opportunity. Matt Parsons, CDC Board Chair, was overheard saying, “When is the last time you saw people mingle for an hour after an event?” When one of the new-to-the-startup-community sponsors was asked what she thought of the event, she put her hand to her heart and said, “Oh! This gave me so much hope!”