On Monday, Feb. 24, Belmont Enactus hosted its first annual Reverse Pitch Competition in the Massey Boardroom with six competing teams from universities in the south eastern region of the United States. Each team included five individuals that pitched their creative ideas for a plot of land at 1201 Buchanan St., aiming to solve a need in the North Nashville area.
Winning a $1000 award, a team from Lipscomb University came in first placing for its idea “Juice and Grow,” an integration between an urban farm and a juice shop. The juice shop serves as the point of interaction, and the main revenue stream is centered on the production and supply of a variety of greens. Through the urban farm, Juice and Grow would partner with local restaurants to supply locally grown greens from sites and households in the community, providing people with a health source of food and an opportunity to sell their yields back to the company to meet market demands.
“Cubed Carpentry,” an idea proposed by a Western Kentucky University team, won second place with a $500 financial reward. The business would serve as a training hub and storefront of handmade wooden products made by men in North Nashville. The training component is the center for empowerment through providing the community with employable skills that they can use to support their families. Once these men have been trained by skilled carpenters, they can then create works of art that displayed and sold in the storefront.
Union University came in third place, presenting “Front Porch Pharmacy,” an idea that combines a pharmacy with an arcade and pop up food stands. Community members would be able to pick up prescriptions, enjoy food and drink while waiting and watch their kids play arcade games. The team was rewarded with a $300 financial reward.
Belmont Enactus’s mission is “to empower local, national and international community partners to develop entrepreneurial, ethical and environmentally sustainable business models that create economic and social positive change.”
Members of Belmont Enactus study within a large array of majors at the University including business, computer science, social entrepreneurship, finance, design, education and political science, among others. The group aims to use their skills, talents and education to serve marginalized populations globally using free enterprise. In Nashville and abroad, the group partners with non-profits and social entrepreneurs to work on projects that give real world experience to compliment education.
