The annual Northwest Entrepreneurial Competition here netted first-place finishers ranging from a team of Gonzaga University students with their eyes on developing radio frequency technology that can track belongings while you’re traveling, to a group of students from Mead High’s STEM program who are developing wooden toy kits for children.

The 16th annual competition was held at Whitworth University on April 13. 

Last November, sponsors and organizers changed the name of the event, which previously was known as the Inland Northwest Business Plan Competition.

High school students, college undergraduates, and graduate students competed for cash awards to be used toward the actual startup of their proposed businesses. 

They presented their business plans to a panel of judges comprised of business owners and employees from the regional business community.

Past winners at the competition include Spokane-based startups GreenCupboards, the online retailer now known as etailz Inc., and Photoboxx, a company that bills itself as a social media hashtag printer. Last October, etailz announced that it had been acquired by a New York company for $75 million.

“The NEC is a regionwide competition that is very unique in that it’s more than just an academic exercise for students,” says Meagan Garrett, owner and operator of Spokane-based BrandVenture Consulting LLC, who also serves on the advisory board of the NEC’s competition committee.

“They are being mentored and provided actual physical space to be able to continue working on their business plans for more than just a grade in class,” Garrett says.

The students made their business pitches in three different divisions: open, technology, and traditional.

A first-, second-, and third-place recipient was selected in each category, with first place winning $7,000 and a free, three-month membership to Startup Spokane’s incubator work space, says Megan Hulsey, Startup Spokane’s entrepreneurship program manager. Second-place winners earned $3,000 and two free months at Startup Spokane, while third-place winners picked up $1,000 and one free month at Startup Spokane, Hulsey says. 

Startup Spokane is housed in 2,500 square feet of space in what’s called Share Space, located on the main floor of the Plechner Building, at 610 W. Second, in downtown Spokane. 

The Bellevue, Wash.-based Herbert B. Jones Foundation served as the prize money sponsor. The foundation promotes small-business efforts and entrepreneurism through programs managed by post-secondary educational institutions.

Finishing first in the open division was a team from the University of Idaho, which has established a nonprofit organization called Style Her Empowered.

Style Her Empowered already has started teaching school-aged girls in Togo, Africa, how to sew school uniforms as a way to acquire a marketable skill and afford school.

First place in the technology category went to a Gonzaga University team for its project called Traveler’s Bracelet. 

A wearable device using radio-frequency identification would alert the wearer if a tagged item is being moved or has left a five-foot radius of the bracelet. 

And in the traditional category, a team from Mead High School’s STEM Academy claimed the top prize with its business design project called Illusory Gearbox, which is a hands-on, take-home kit for kids that teaches cognitive skills, critical thinking, and attention to detail.

“I am so proud of the NEC’s amazing story—a dedicated regional community supporting talented, innovative students as they begin their entrepreneurial journeys,” Garrett says.