The Diamond Challenge
The Diamond Challenge is a business competition for youth. The objective was simple: create a business idea, business execution plan, and financial model based on the idea. When my neighbor recommended the competition to me, I was immediately excited to participate. I had minimal experience with business before, but knew I was intrigued.
The first step: create a team and find a mentor who would guide us to our eventual live pitch. After assembling the team of four, we got to work. Brainstorming ideas of a product that people needed to save time in our busy lives, we created FreshCart. FreshCart is an application that re-organizes a shopping list based on a store’s layout to minimize the time spent shopping, while providing data analytics and heat maps of foot traffic to best allocate product placement in the store. During the competition, we began to create the application, wrote an execution strategy, and prepared a slide deck for a live pitch. After months of hard work, we submitted our application, and were chosen to go to Danville for the semi-finals. To prepare for the event, we rehearsed our “elevator pitch,” learning the ins and outs of pitching and the fundamentals of a business execution plan. At the event, we pitched our idea to a panel of judges. The process of this competition propelled my passions for business and economics, and gave me a taste for entrepreneurship. |