Nine StartUP! Finalists Closer to $10,000 Awards

Last night there was twice the fun at Flushing Town Hall. Upstairs in the theater area, our friends at the Queens Economic Development Corporation hosted a networking event, while art-lovers flocked to the first floor gallery to attend the opening of Erasing Borders, an exhibition of contemporary Indian painting, sculpture, video art, installation art and photography.

As part of the networking event, which Delta, the Mets, the USTA and Magna Restaurant co-hosted, QEDC announced the nine finalists (some in above photo) of the Seventh Annual Queens StartUP! Business Plan Competition, a five-month challenge-and-instruction course sponsored by Citi.

Judges from Citi selected the following finalists in the “Community Development” category: Himalayan Couture, a boutique providing a modern twist to the traditional Chuba (a dress worn by Himalayan women); Fabulous Fitness NYC, an exercise studio focusing on educating clients about fitness and nutrition for adults and children; and Magda Care Training Services, which provides job training and administrative/management instruction to home health aides who want to advance in their field.

In the “Food” category, one finalist is Gooey & Co., a specialty bakery that brings very distinct cakes — famous in St. Louis since 1930 — to the New York marketplace for the first time. These cakes are St. Louie Ooey Gooey Butter Cake, Gooey Chocolate Cake and Gooey Maple Carrot Cake. Another finalist in this category is Astoria Coffee, a cafe providing artisan-roasted specialty coffee, premium loose-leaf teas and carefully selected baked goods. The third finalist is Take a Break & I’ll Bake, a family-owned and operated bakery that helps nonprofits raise money by selling their products.

The third category, “Innovation,” has the following finalists: M3D Consulting, a green management and policy consulting firm that helps clients incorporate environmental sustainability into their everyday lives and business practices; Return on Change, an online crowdfunding platform that gives startups access to investors from the professional investment world as well as retail investors that have traditionally been restricted to publicly traded securities; and the Law Office of Renee M. Simpson, which serves immigrants via a hybrid model of business and humanitarianism.

From this pool of nine finalists, the Citi judges will choose three winners and award each $10,000. The announcement will be made at Queens Taste 2013 at Citi Field’s Caesars Club on May 14.

Over the course of the StartUP! competition, roughly 250 participants received technical assistance and training on how to start a small business. They also had access to entrepreneurial resources at the Queens Central Library in Jamaica. Then, a total of 35 teams submitted business plans to the judges.