When: Thursday, June 21, 2018, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. (The “pitchfest” will begin around 1 p.m.)
Where: Hunter Henry Center, 100 Hunter Henry Blvd., Mississippi State University
Mississippi’s rural businesses will have the opportunity to pitch investors from across the country about why their business models are investment ready at the Rural Opportunity Initiative-Mississippi State University Rural Investment workshop.
Each of these Mississippi entrepreneurs will discuss their companies and products/services while fielding questions from a ‘Shark Tank’ style panel of investors and educators. One of the goals for the workshop is to help put rural businesses on the radar of investors who might be unfamiliar with the business landscape in rural states.
These businesses will also have the opportunity to hear from the investors on what defines a good investment, and what makes a business ripe for investing. The invited businesses were identified by Mississippi State University, Mississippi Development Authority, USDA Rural Development, and other economic development partners as established businesses with unique growth potential.
The Rural Opportunity Initiative originated with a former senior advisor to the Obama administration’s United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Matt McKenna, who has partnered with Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business and the Georgetown Global Social Enterprise Initiative (GSEI), to help businesses be forces for good by creating social, economic and environmental impacts that will involve private, public and nonprofit leaders working across multiple sectors.
In addition to Mississippi State University, ROI is also partnering with other land grant schools - Iowa State University and Purdue University.