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April 19, 2017

Southwest Virginia Entrepreneurial Opportunity Celebrated at Awards Dinner

The Entrepreneur Challenge—the inaugural business development competition conducted by the collaborative My Southwest Virginia Opportunity effort came to a close on December 3, with an awards dinner and the announcement of winners in the regional business development competition.

Ninety people gathered at the Hotel Norton to meet the entrepreneurs, watch the awards presented, and hear tips for successful businesses from Thom Crosby, CEO of Pal’s Sudden Service and honoree presented with the region’s Entrepreneurship award. Crosby emphasized the value of long-term customers and the importance of “delighting customers,” no matter what role you have in the organization and setting high standards of quality and performance.

The Entrepreneur Challenge was a competitive business plan process that award more than $30,000 in business investment grants for new entrepreneurial ventures and existing businesses looking to expand with additional job creation in far Southwest Virginia.  The Entrepreneur Challenge cohort began with 21 entrepreneurs and ended with 11 completing the program.  Currently, out of the 11 completing participants 7 of them are now open for business in Southwest Virginia.   The award winners: