Nov. 5, 2019
CWU to Host First Many Faces of Entrepreneurship Tourney in Western Washington
For the first time, CWU’s Many Faces of Entrepreneurship (MFE) Tournament will be held in western Washington.
The tourney, involving an expected 250 Highline School District students, will be conducted by the CWU College of Business (CB) Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I4IE) on November 13 at the Seattle Marriott Convention Center.
“We will be working with the high school students during the morning, building different pet products with CWU student actors portraying customers,” said Bill Provaznik, I4IE director. “CWU students will also portray supply store representatives and lawyers, while others will serve as mentors helping the high school students through the process of designing, building, and marketing their products.”
The goal of the program is to teach students how to create, launch, and successfully operate a start-up business venture.
“I4IE’s mission is to make business ownership a reality for students whose backgrounds typically lack the chance for entrepreneurship as a career,” Provaznik explained. “Our programs have already impacted thousands of students in central Washington. That’s why we’re excited to be able to expand the program’s reach.”
Provaznik said an anonymous $20,000 donation along with continuing support from the Herbert B Jones Foundation made possible the first MFE tournament in the Puget Sound region.
“The Pacific Northwest is highly entrepreneurial,” Provaznik added. “But return on investment is a fundamental ingredient for successful entrepreneurs. That is also key to what we help the students understand.”
Business professionals and about 60 CWU entrepreneurship students help lead the instruction throughout the time-sensitive, single-day tournament.
“Our [CWU] students get to experience the role of mentoring someone else through a process of developing their own commercialized ideas,” Provaznik said. “The Central students and business professionals will act as peer-to-peer mentors to the high school students and judge the various market plans that they prepare.”
In addition, there will be volunteer “Super Judges,” including CWU Foundation Board chair and Seattle business entrepreneur Angelina Merola, entrepreneur and educator Ray Morales, business professor and consultant Wendy Cook, and Emily Paige Wilson, CWU alumni relations coordinator.
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Media contact: Robert Lowery, Department of Public Affairs, director of Radio Services and Integrated Communications, 509-963-1487, Robert.Lowery@cwu.edu