Sponsored Post – from Austin Resource Recovery 

This one’s for all you entrepreneurs out there! Want to put your business skills to good use by making money and helping the environment?

Then the [Re]Verse Pitch Competition is just the thing for you. Cohosted by the Austin Young Chamber and the City of Austin, the competition helps turn valuable raw materials that are currently leaving local businesses, nonprofits, and institutions as waste, into the foundation for new social enterprises.

Here’s how it works. 

Businesses that are currently generating a lot of excess material or byproduct will “pitch” those leftover materials to a group of entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs will then have five weeks to come up with a business plan (with help from a team of mentors and advisers). At the end of the competition, two $10,000 prizes will be awarded (one for a new business idea and another for an existing business that has figured out a way to make use of one of the byproducts).

This year’s byproducts/excess materials are:

• The Austin Winery – White and red wine grape skins
• HID Global – Poly-carbonate dye-cut plastic sheets
• JOSCO Products – Polyester napkins
• Texas Oncology – Styrofoam coolers and freeze packs
• Travis County – Office chairs

Interested in participating? You can RSVP for the opening event on Tuesday, February 26th here>>

Want to prepare for the competition? Or simply learn more about how to reduce waste at your business? The Austin Technology Incubator is hosting a free course on “Entrepreneurship and the Circular Economy,” starting on Wednesday, January 30th. You can register here>>