Olive Loom Wins NWA StartUp Cup

— A mother-daughter team won the top spot in the inaugural NWA StartUp Cup.

Lou Sharp and daughter Leah Garrett, owners of Olive Loom Boutique in Fayetteville, learned they finished atop the business model competition Thursday.

“This competition helped up get to the next level,” Sharp said.

At A Glance

StartUp Cup

First Place

w Olive Loom Boutique, Leah Garrett and Lou Sharp — local studio offering textile products individually designed and customized

Second Place

• Jack Bragg Shoes, Andrew Denton — socially conscious, eco-friendly company that recycles highway billboard vinyl into footwear with a portion of sales is then donated to Action Against Hunger

Third Place

• More Than A Review, Donna Feyen — book review website that uses a simple rating system allowing users to grade a book on violence, rough language, sex, and drugs and alcohol

Other Finalists

• Dummy Drummy, Johnathan Mwaba — GPS enabled multi-application self-launching, self-sustaining non-inflatable sea rescue pod requiring no maintenance or in-depth training

• Le’Chez Hair, Carla Thompson — customized wigs and hair extensions

• Tackle Tronics, John Lockwood — door-to-door campaign platform that offers a map-based mobile app to help political candidates target voters

• Geek Mapper, Stephen Ritterbush — free social media tool for finding entertainment conventions, learning about attendance of celebrities and vendors and coordinating with friends

Source: NWA StartUp Cup

The StartUp Cup is a business model competition designed to provide mentoring and long-term support to participating entrepreneurs during a company’s early stages. It’s for businesses at any level of development between the idea stage to five years in operation.

The competition started with nearly 40 applicants in June before the field was narrowed to seven finalists. The awards ceremony was held this week to coincide with Global Entrepreneurship Week.

Tonya Nkokheli, local organizer of the global competition, said it was important the awards ceremony be part of something bigger.

Global Entrepreneurship Week started in 2008 and has grown to 115 countries. Nearly 24,000 organizations are holding more than 37,000 activities across the world throughout the week.

“All the finalists are part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Northwest Arkansas,” she said.

She called the event a labor of love and hopes it becomes an annual event.

Sean Griffin founded the StartUp Cup six years ago in Tulsa, Okla. Nkokheli secured the first license to hold the competition outside Tulsa once Griffin decided to take the program global. There were 11 StartUp Cups held around the world this year, and Griffin said there are more than 50 slated for 2013.

Griffin was a judge for the Northwest Arkansas competition and joined Thursday’s celebration via Skype. He was attending Global Entrepreneurship Week events in the Silicon Valley.

“I am so impressed with the dedication you’ve shown,” he said to the finalists. “I’m blown away.”

The competition is a for-profit business that relies on sponsorships. There’s no charge for the license and is free to participants.

Nkokheli wanted to get the competition rolling quickly and was not able to secure any cash prizes this year. All finalists won a one-year membership to the Northwest Arkansas Entrepreneurship Alliance that provides access to the Iceberg, a co-working facility in Fayetteville.

The top three finishers received in-kind service packages and professional photo shoots. Nkokheli said services range from branding and legal assistance to mentorship and information technology.

“It all depends on their specific needs,” she said.

Sharp and Garrett have access to 30 hours of services valued at $7,500. The winners also received airfare to attend the 2013 StartUp Cup kickoff in the Silicon Valley.

Sharp said the next area they need help in is logistics.

“We need help managing growth and identifying potential sales outlets,” she said.

Winning second place was Andrew Denton with Jack Bragg Shoes. He recycles highway billboard vinyl into footwear with a portion of sales going to Action Against Hunger. He will received 20 hours of services valued at $5,000.

Donna Feyen took third place with More Than a Review.com, a book review website. She will get 10 hours of free services valued at $2,500.

Feyen said the competition reassured her she had a good idea.

“I would not have gotten to where I am this fast without the competition,” she said.

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