IJ Clinic Launches Entrepreneurial Pitch Competition
Organizers are gearing up for their first ever entrepreneurial pitch competition, dubbed “South Side Pitch,” which will take place Oct. 1 in the Chicago Innovation Exchange (CIE) Sky Deck, on the 11th floor of 5235 S. Harper Court. All interested entrepreneurs are asked to submit their applications by Monday, Aug. 18.
South Side Pitch is a collaboration between the Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneurship (IJ Clinic on Entrepreneurship) at the University of Chicago (U. of C.) Law School, CIE, the U. of C. Office of Business Diversity and the South East Chicago Commission. The event was conceived by the IJ Clinic on Entrepreneurship – a branch of a national nonprofit, the Institute for Justice – which aims to promote inner-city entrepreneurship in Chicago by advocating for small businesses and providing free legal services, educational programming and resources, according to Brooke Fallon, Office and Community Relations Manager at the IJ Clinic on Entrepreneurship.
Fallon emphasized the event’s focus on the South Side: this includes those living on the South Side, those hoping to open businesses on the South Side and those planning to hire employees on the South Side.
“There’s so much talk in Chicago about the city kind of finding its place as a hub for startups,” Fallon said. “We thought an event like South Side Pitch could be a cool way to highlight things that are going on here on the South Side that sometimes don’t get enough attention.”