Downtown Saginaw to host small business idea pitch competition Thursday

Recipient awarded prize during Saginaw Soup pitch competition.

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SAGINAW, MI — Would-be entrepreneurs will compete for cash prizes as high as $2,000 during a downtown event this week.

Organizers will host the Saginaw Soup Pitch Competition at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 19, at the SVRC Marketplace, 203 S. Washington in Saginaw. The gathering is scheduled in the Central Michigan University Research Corporation (CMURC) suite on the second floor of the building.

The event will feature local entrepreneurs pitching their small business ideas to a panel of judges and audience members, officials said.

For a $5 entry fee, guests can participate in the voting, organizers said.

The first-place winner will receive $2,000 while a runner-up will earn $1,500. A People’s Choice winner will receive the amount of money collected in entry fees for the event

Organizers said the gathering will include free food samples from restaurants located in the SVRC Marketplace food court.

The event was organized by partnering municipalities and business-centric organizations including Saginaw, Bridgeport Township, Saginaw Future Inc., Saginaw Economic Development Corp., the Small Business Development Center based in Saginaw Valley State University, the Saginaw County Chamber of Commerce, and CMURC.

After an earlier version of the pitch competition was hosted for several years beginning in 2015 in Saginaw’s Old Town business district, new partners came aboard to revive the tradition in 2019. Thursday’s event will mark the third Saginaw Soup Pitch Competition since it was revived in downtown.

Cassi Zimmerman, the business development manager for Saginaw Future Inc., will serve as one of the gathering’s organizers.

“Saginaw Soup works to inform entrepreneurs and visionaries of the resources that are available to help develop their business idea,” she said.

“We walk these entrepreneurs through the development of a business plan, including hosting trainings on speaking about the problem they are solving, a marketing plan, competition, and financials. Entrepreneurs leave the program with the tools to stabilize and grow their business.”

For more details about the event, contact Alina Anderson with Saginaw Future Inc. at 989-717-4050.

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