Hornets Innovation Summit includes $15K for winner

CHARLOTTE HORNETS

Kevin Gatlin, owner of Playtime Edventures, center, won the $15,000 grant in the 2023 Hornets Innovation Summit.

A Charlotte Hornets initiative that supports minority entrepreneurs will make a $15,000 investment for a small business.

Hornets Sports & Entertainment is accepting applications through Jan. 31 for the fourth annual Hornets Innovation Summit. Entrepreneurs and businesses that are at least 51% operated and controlled by people of color and located within 150 miles of Spectrum Center are eligible to apply at hornets.com/innovation-summit. The winning applicant gets the $15,000 grant from the Charlotte Hornets.

Applicants that advance to the second round will have their one-minute pitch videos posted on hornets.com and social media for fan voting. The finalists, who advance through fan voting and a selection committee, will show off their business or product at Spectrum Center before a panel of experts in March.

“The Innovation Summit is one of our favorite annual initiatives, and we’re thrilled to again be working with Bank of America to provide social and financial capital to minority entrepreneurs and businesses within our community,” HSE Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility Betsy Mack said in a statement. “We’ve met some incredible people doing very impressive work over the past three years, and we are proud to play a small part in their business journey. We look forward to seeing this year’s pitches and meeting more incredible entrepreneurs.”  

All summit applicants will receive access to a live investor training workshop from the UNC Charlotte Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation to help them with entrepreneurship topics in addition to prepare business pitch decks and conduct customer discovery. The finalists will participate in a live and interactive mentoring session to prepare their presentations.  

“Winning the competition was a turning point for us, resulting in a significant increase in sales through our website and Amazon,” said Kevin Gatlin, founder and CEO Playtime Edventures, which markets interactive bedsheets and slumber bags for children and last year’s winner.

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