For the second time Slovak entrepreneurs may compete for a million dollars in the Chivas VENTURE Awards; the composition of the jury in its entirety is also revealed.
As of the 4th September all entrepreneurs ready to help the society as a whole with the business they conduct, are welcome to register in the Chivas VENTURE competition by sending their application. The fact of how long they have been engaged in business or the nature of their business, is not relevant. Start-ups as well as well-established companies from all walks of life have similar chance of succeeding. All that matters is to prove to the jury that their business is heading in the right direction.
„Our intention is to support each and everyone who picked the right direction in their entrepreneurial effort. Because we are convinced that conducting honest business is a viable and sensible option. After all, we, at Chivas Regal, have been doing business with the same mindset for more than 200 years,” Matúš Kollár, the Brand Manager at Pernod Ricard Slovakia, the company being the exclusive distributor of the Scotch in Slovakia and the organizer of the competition shared his thoughts.
The winner of the Slovak round last year became the start-up SmartHead which has created the online platform for companies and individuals to share their CSR projects serving as an inspiration for others. The Chivas VENTURE competition, among others actively contributed to the rise of Veronika Osvaldova’s project which has a potential to take off globally. In the meantime the SmartHead platform has been established and got their feet in the door besides Slovakia in Denmark and currently clients from the United States are getting involved, too.
Winning the fabulous sum of the grand prize is all but simple. The 10 best applicants are to take part in specialized workshops under a global consultant’s watch whose job is to select up to 5 of them who will be shortlisted for the local finale. The winner will be awarded at a celebratory gala event in December by the professional jury made up of well-known and successful Slovak entrepreneurs and professionals. The jurors make Lukáš Alner, the founder of the webpage Zoznam.sk and the project initiator of diagnose.me; Juraj Porubský, the in chief of the prestigious economic journal Forbes Slovensko; František Krivda, the co-founder of the international platform sli.do, Kristína Pomothy, the co-organizer of the biggest start-up competition Startup Awards.sk, the co-author of Origameo which creates work environments with special focus on employee needs and the founder of Collective. Last but not least, the fifth juror is Katarína Klinková, the co-founder of Staffino and the Managing Director of Consultation Company Deal Factory.
The winner of the local round is awarded besides media coverage in Forbes and the attendance of the week long accelerator, the chance to compete for a million dollars within the Chivas VENTURE FINAL PITCH next May. The winner of last year’s finale became the Project Siam Organic from Thailand. “I am absolutely positive that we will witness some outstanding projects from Slovakia this year, too which will stand a chance to give other applicants a run for their money in the global round of Chivas VENTURE. We keep getting convinced that Slovakia is a country where ideas of global significance and quality originate from and are worth paying attention to,” Matúš Kollár added.
Please check the Chivas VENTURE webpage, its Facebook page or its YouTube channel for the latest information. The important date to keep in mind though, is the deadline of accepting applications which is 29th October 2017. You do not want to miss it!