Detroit Harmonie social entrepreneur funding event March 3

Detroit Harmonie has an ambitious agenda for both bringing people in the city together and providing a platform for social entrepreneurs to fundraise seed capital. The Midtown-based nonprofit believes it can take its first step toward those goals with a seed-capital competition on March 3.

The Get Funded Challenge will allow about a dozen social entrepreneurs to compete for $50,000 in cash prizes to get their businesses started. The competition will offer a $30,000 grand prize and allow local residents to vote for the winner. The idea is that competitions like this will serve as a model for funding entrepreneurial dreams and allow entrepreneurs, investors and customers to make connections outside of their normal social circles.

"We want to become a funding mechanism to get them to the next level," says Jordan Wolfe, co-founder and chair of Detroit Harmonie.

Detroit Harmonie also is working on developing a scorecard for the winners of the Get Funded Challenge to track their progress. The nonprofit, launched in July, is aiming to fund projects and businesses that create economic impact in Detroit's communities through improving the physical environment or enhancing cultural diversity.

"They have to be doing something that is making Detroit a better place," Wolfe says.

For information on the competition, click here.

Source: Jordan Wolfe, co-founder and chair of Detroit Harmonie
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.