Hazel Fox Business Plan Competition for Non-Majority Entrepreneurs

Dr. Joseph Fox of Fox Management, and a former A-B Tech employee, has partnered with the A-B Tech Small Business Center to create the Hazel Fox Business Plan Competition for Non-majority Entrepreneurs.

This competition was established to honor Dr. Fox’s late mother, Hazel Fox, and targets non-majority entrepreneurs based on race and/or ethnicity.

“My mother, Hazel Fox, was always dedicated to education and learning,” Dr. Fox said. “She wanted her children to go to college in order for them to have a better life. She was always entrepreneurial in nature in the way she used limited resources to provide for us. She was also very creative in the use of her talents to find work that helped her budget for the family.”

Start-up and expanding businesses are eligible to apply based on the following eligibility requirements:

• Start-Up Business: a business that is less than three years old, including those not yet operational
• Growth or Business Expansion: a business that is older than three years
• Entrepreneurs must be residents of Buncombe or Madison County
• Entrepreneurs must be current or past clients of a Spark Tank partner (i.e., A-B Tech Small Business Center, Mountain BizWorks, WWBC, SBTDC, SCORE, etc.)
• The business must have at least 51% non-majority business ownership
• Entrepreneurs must submit a completed business plan to the selection committee
• Businesses with existing venture investment are not eligible

“The intent of the business plan competition is to provide financial assistance to business owners of a darker hue without tying a lot of stipulations to the assistance,” said Dr. Fox. “Entrepreneurs of a darker hue do not always fit the dominant model of business financing due to system biases that have reduced their wealth creation, home ownership, and the ability to secure collateral.”

Fox’s mother was killed by a hit-and-run driver while in another state with members of her church. “I looked for ways to honor the ‘inherited legacy’ from her and saw first the Hazel Fox Minority Student Entrepreneurship Scholarship at A-B Tech as a way to honor her, and now the Hazel Fox Non-majority Business Plan Competition,” he said.

There will be at least two winners in both categories at the $2,000 level.

Important Dates

• Applications are due by Friday, October 22, 2021
• Applications will be reviewed Monday, October 24 – Wednesday, October 27
• Business plans requested from finalists, Thursday, October 28 – Monday, November 1
• Virtual pitch practice with the finalists takes place Tuesday, November 9 at 3:00 p.m.
• Final pitch and awards (virtual), Friday, December 3 at TBD

To apply, complete the application at https://forms.gle/FtYbFvDnquKvu7Te8.

For more information, visit www.sparktanknc.org/opportunities. Please contact Duane Adams at [email protected] with any questions.