Campus CEO Contest Millions of people nationwide watched NBC’s hit reality show, ‘The Apprentice.’ Many viewers thought that the show’s winners were extremely lucky and wished that they could have a similar chance. As of November 16th, college-age viewers, college students and high school seniors across the country will indeed be given a similar chance by a former winner of the ever-popular program. Dr. Randall Pinkett is this opportunity granter. After becoming the first African-American to win The Apprentice, Pinkett became the author of a new book entitled, ‘Campus CEO: The Student Entrepreneur’s Guide to Launching a Multimillion Dollar Business.’ Although the book will not hit stores until early 2007, Pinkett recently launched the “Most Promising Campus CEO” competition to reward young and motivated entrepreneurs. The contest, which will run until January 10th, 2007, boasts grand prizes valued at $22,000 and second a third place prizes valued at over $2,000 and $500 respectively. According to the website, www.campusceo.com, entrants into the contest must either run their own business or have a well-developed and detailed idea for a new business. A press release from Rose Communications states that, “after the competition closes (on January 10th), Pinkett and a ‘team of experts’ plan to review all the applications and select ten finalists.” After picking these ten finalists, outlines of each finalist’s plans for a business or existing business will be placed on www.campusceo.com. Visitors to this site will have a chance to review these summaries and vote for a finalist/business. Although this is visitor participation is strongly encouraged, the voting will only be part of the final decision. Pinkett will make the final decision in February and release the information in a live, web-based event announcing all three winners. The Grand Prize/first place winner will receive a one-on-one Campus CEO coaching session with Pinkett, A Kaplan GMAT preparation class, a featured position in the Web event, and $5,000 in seed money toward his or her business venture. For second place, the winner will receive a Dell desktop PC with a monitor, participation in the Web event, and $1,500 in seed money for his or her business venture. Lastly, the third place winner will receive $500 for his or her business venture. Pinkett recently said that his reason for starting the contest was because “I firmly believe in the entrepreneur’s mindset – of creativity, resourcefulness, courage, vision and perseverance – is empowering and I hope to help foster that outlook in talented young leaders.” He also said that this competition is an attempt to “provide students with practical business building tools and advice to help them make a direct and positive Students are able and encouraged to enter anytime until January 10th and/or visit www.campusceo.com for more information. |