2013 Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute (ELI) winning team members
Members of the 2013 Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute (ELI) Business Concept Competition winning team were presented Presidential Scholarship offers from Eastern Kentucky University at this year’s Excellence in Entrepreneurship Awards (EIEA) program.
EKU President Dr. Michael T. Benson, attending his first EIEA regional awards program since he took over as the university’s 12th president, congratulated the ELI team and extended a scholarship offer to each winning team member.
ELI team members Blake Blevins, Harlan County; Laken Fitch, Lawrence County; Autumn Hall, Floyd County; Aubrey Kelley, Pulaski County; and Lyndsey Pennington of McCreary County won the Business Concept Competition earlier this summer after successfully pitching an idea for a start-up business venture that makes and sells homemade fudge.
The ELI “Fudgalicious Fudgery” team crafted a business concept for a local fudge shop marketing to tourists, locals, and customers everywhere through in-store and online sales.
ELI, a one-week summer youth leadership program presented by The Center, provides high school students in Southern and Eastern Kentucky with the skills they need to step up as the region’s next generation of business owners and entrepreneurs.
The EIEA program —honoring excellence in entrepreneurship since 2001— was held Sept. 9 at The Center in Somerset. The program is sponsored by Eastern Kentucky University’s College of Business and Technology, Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation, Southeast Kentucky Economic Development Corporation (SKED), and The Center.
