idea cafe

Idea Cafe's editorial team has selected the semi-finalists for the Seventh Idea Cafe Small Business Grant. The selection process took into consideration several factors: how viable or interesting the business idea was; how well the entrepreneur described her plans for the future; and what she was willing to give back to the local community. We are thankful to everyone who applied for the grant, because going through the descriptions of hundreds and hundreds of wonderful small businesses was an inspiring and somewhat humbling task. And here they are, the semi-finalists for the Entrepreneurial Spirit 2009 Grant.

The registration period for the Seventh Idea Cafe Small Business Grant closed on May 17, 2009. The editorial team of the site will now begin the preliminary selection of finalists, and voting for the winner will open on June 2nd. The entrepreneur who received the highest number of votes from Idea Cafe Regulars will be officially announced the winner of the Seventh Idea Café Small Business Grant on July 7th.

Here at IdeaCafe we were thinking of possibilities to create new networking opportunities for the thousands of Idea Cafe Regulars. And then it hit us: we can use the existing social platforms! So, you are hereby cordially invited to join Idea Cafe on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Click on the links to join the Idea Cafe community on the respective online service.

Registration for the current Idea Cafe small business grant is ongoing with significant interest on part of small business owners. Entrepreneurs from all across America are submitting their applications. Did you submit yours? It's free.

Recession or not, the spirit of entrepreneurs will continue to be celebrated on Idea Cafe. This is why we announce a new contest, where good business ideas for small business will compete against each other. That is right, the seventh Idea Cafe grant opens this week. We will award $1,000.00 and heaps of free publicity and national recognition to the entrepreneur, who comes on top in the competition against hundreds of other small business owners.

Previously, Idea Cafe's Biz Profiles stayed online for 45 days, but we know that in a tough economy entrepeneurs need promotion and networking opportunities more than ever. This is why the period, during which your Biz Profile will be featured on Idea Cafe, for free, went up from 45 to 90 days.

First of all, let me say how excited we here at WOMbeat! still are over the Idea Café “Innovation & Originality Grant” win. Not only did this win help us see a tremendous growth in traffic to our site, but we continue to get more coverage because of it. In fact, last week we were one of the guests on a talk-radio program called the Ceo Lounge. Listen for yourself here

It is with great pleasure that we, the team at Idea Cafe presents to you, the visitors, this new addition to the one of the oldest online small business communities. We hope that this humble web publication platform will prove a useful interaction forum and an informative resource.

Idea Cafe's sixth cash grant for small business owners and start-ups just closed its application phase. Selection now starts. As we want to award the grant to the most innovative and inspiring business idea, we will be presenting the finalists on this blog.