2012 ELI Business Concept Competition first-place winning team "Jam Good"

Members of the first-place winning team of The Center for Rural Development’s 2012 Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute (ELI) Business Concept Competition were recognized on Sept. 10 at a luncheon and awards presentation for the region’s top small business owners and entrepreneurs at The Center in Somerset.

“Jam Good” team members and high school students Savanna Noe, Lee County; Rachyl Harmon, Clay County; Ethan Call, Pulaski County; Madison Lee, Casey County; and Kimberly Brown of Knox County were honored at this year’s Excellence in Entrepreneurship Awards (EIEA) program.

Each team member was presented a framed certificate acknowledging the team’s win in the Business Concept Competition and will receive an offer of a Presidential Scholarship from Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond.

The “Jam Good” team won the Business Concept Competition earlier this summer while attending The Center’s ELI youth leadership program. The ELI participants worked as a team to craft a business concept for a start-up agri-tourism business, where farm-friendly families could pick their favorite seasonal fruits right from the patch and make or purchase fresh, homemade jams and bakery products at the “Jam Good” country store and bakery.

The EIEA program—honoring excellence since 2001—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.

For more information about ELI and other summer youth leadership programs at The Center, contact Delaney Stephens, youth programs coordinator and community liaison, at 606-677-6000 or email youth@centertech.com.