Your Experience can Empower our Entrepreneurs

Houston Community College and our Center for Entrepreneurship are preparing for the 17^th annual HCC Business Plan Competition (Competition). We invite you to be a part of our 2024 HCC Business Plan Competition Advisor Cohort. Join other experienced entrepreneurial, business and technology experts who give one-on-one advising to a team selected to move through our competition.

Competition training and advising is virtual with optional opportunities to meet your team in person.

Advisors are a powerful and sustaining thread in the program. As an Advisor you will have an opportunity to help entrepreneurs of all ages who are entering the HCC Business Plan Competition to take expert advice and use it to become more successful.

• Approximately thirty entrepreneur teams will be chosen to compete in the 2024 Competition. We accept proposed, startup and existing companies who are entering to create refined and polished plans to start and/or grow their businesses.  Each team (of 1 to 5 contestants) will move through the competition training and advising from late February through May. All contestant teams will be matched with Advisors. If you become an Advisor, you will be matched to a team based on your areas of expertise and the team's business concept and needs. Advisors are critical to the success of the Competition. 

Your Experience can Empower our Entrepreneurs

The Role of the Advisor is to:



• Encourage contestants to meet deadlines and complete competition;
• Review contestants' work regularly;
• Advise and guide contestants pointing out deficiencies and making suggestions;

• Lead by example: meet commitments, keep contestant(s) positive, encourage timeliness and complete work, follow-up on status of suggestions made at previous meeting; and
• Serve as a Business Plan Reviewer.

Your time commitment is about 20-25 hours from February through May 2024. 

This includes:

• An Optional Virtual Advisor Orientation on February 8^th, from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm on Zoom -  http://tiny.cc/BPCAdvisorORNT
• Advisors Only - no competition applicants/contestants. 
• This Orientation is not Required, but it is a great way for advisors new to our competition to learn more about how it works.

Six Contestant Training Sessions

Five on ZOOM and One Onsite:

We request advisors attend at least three of the six competition training sessions:

• Tuesday evenings from 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm. (Includes: login for 30 minutes of networking with competition leaders, contestants and advisors, 2 hours of presentation and 30 minutes of Q&A).
• February 27, March 5-Onsite, March 19, April 2, April 16 and May 7.
• One-on-one advising meetings with your team - Advisor and contestant teams meet one-on-one in between training sessions, at mutually agreed upon times. These can also be virtual if that is your preference. We've noticed that some teams meet at an agreed upon time once a week or they arrange to meet periodically before or after each training session. If any advisor and contestant team collectively wishes to have an in-person meeting, this can be done, provided that every member involved feels comfortable with meeting in-person. These meetings can be done until plans are due on May 6. Slide presentations and one minute videos are due May 13.

• Optional Attendance at Business Plan Pitches on May 30, 2024 if your Team Makes the Finals!  
• Optional Attendance at Awards Ceremony - June 6, 2024 from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm

Give the Business Plan Contestants the advice and guidance you wish you had when you started or wanted to grow your business. New and Returning Advisors, please use the link below that applies to you to submit your interest and tell us a bit about your area of expertise. This helps us review submissions, connect and fit advisors with the right teams and business concepts.

Timing - Building the Advisor Cohort - We will announce accepted teams on February 22nd and will pair teams with advisors as we move toward the first training sessions. We pair teams with advisors by considering advisors' experience and each accepted team's business concept.  We will respond to your submission throughout this period. We will be communicating with advisors via emails from c4e@hccs.edu; and sometimes via a phone call or text to speak to or reach an individual advisor. 

Thank you for your time and consideration! Being of service as a volunteer advisor can change the lives of these entrepreneurs!

Advisors New to This Competition - If you have not yet served as an advisor in this Competition, please click below on our new advisor quick form to submit your interest and introduce yourself: 

New Advisor Quick Form

Returning Advisors - For those of you who have previously served as an Advisor for this Competition, please click on this link and complete the mini - form to say 'yes' and we would be honored to have you with us again:

Returning Advisors - Even Quicker Form 

Return to Homepage - 2024 HCC Business Plan Competition

About the Glenda & David Regenbaum Center for Entrepreneurship

HCC Northwest

OUR MISSION: To help entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses.

We do this by offering workshops, seminars, summits, classes and competitive training and advising, while also providing practical knowledge, resources and connections. We are also known for three Signature Programs: the Annual HCC Business Plan Competition, now in its 15th year; the Small Business Success Series by by HCC^©; and the HCC Mattress Mack School of Selling^©. 



Contact us at c4e@hccs.edu or 713-718-6650

HCC-OEI Wins Community Engagement Initiative of the Year, 1st Runner Up Award in 2023 International Competition by ACEE

On June 26, 2023, the Accreditation Council for Entrepreneurial & Engaged Universities (ACEEU) hosted finalists from around the world for the Triple E Awards. The HCC Office of Entrepreneurial Initiatives (HCC-OEI) team won this award in recognition of excellence in supporting and building minority owned businesses.  Houston Community College presented 10 Programs: Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), Open for Business for Women of Color, HCC Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses, HCC Business Plan Competition, Small Business Success Series by HCC, Entrepreneurial Programs in Spanish, Entrepreneurship for Youth, Student Hackathons, Student Pitch Competitions, and the HCC Mattress Mack School of Selling. Dr. Maya Durnovo, Chief Entrepreneurial Initiatives Officer, presented in Barcelona, Spain on behalf the HCC OEI team.

Houston Community College Wins 2022 Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers Award for Excellence in Specialty Entrepreneurship Education

 Houston-based academic group called out top universities and programs from around the world — including one in Houston and another in Texas — that are excelling in educating future entrepreneurs at the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers Conference in October.

The GCEC is a consortium of more than 250 university entrepreneurship programs that is headquartered at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business, which has been named a top entrepreneurship program itself time and time again. Houston Community College's Office of Entrepreneurial Initiatives (led by Dr. Maya Durnovo) won in the Excellence in Specialty Entrepreneurship Education category for programming that serves women and minority owned businesses. GCEC Award-Innovation Map Article

Houston Community College Wins 2022 Bellwether Award for Entrepreneurial Initiatives

Houston Community College has won the 2022 Bellwether Award for its outstanding and innovative workforce development program: HCC’s Entrepreneurial Initiatives. The Bellwether Awards are widely regarded as one of the nation’s most competitive and prestigious recognitions for community colleges. Dr. Maya Durnovo, HCC’s chief entrepreneurial initiatives officer leads HCC’s mission of helping entrepreneurs start and grow businesses to bolster the local economy, create jobs and build Houston’s ecosystem by starting and growing small businesses, including minority-, veteran- and women-owned businesses. Dr. Durnovo said. “I am so fortunate to have a highly motivated and passionate team that strives for excellence in everything they do.”

Houston Community College Receives 2021 Diversity In Business Award from the Houston Business Journal!

Congratulations to all students, faculty, staff, entrepreneurs (aspiring & existing); and to all our community participants, supporters, volunteers, partners and sponsors who collaborate with us to make awards like this possible! Congratulations also to all of the other honorees and awardees! 

#WeAreHCC # HoustonStrong #HBJDiversity

Houston Community College 

2020 Entrepreneurial College of the Year

The Houston Community College System was selected as the winner of the 2020 Entrepreneurial College of the Year award by the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE) at NACCE's annual conference, where entrepreneurial colleges from across the U.S. gather to share best practices. On behalf of all of our entrepreneurial programs and staff, we thank all of the entrepreneurs, partners, sponsors, volunteers, students, and HCC faculty and staff who have contributed to our efforts! Without your support and dedication to our programs, this wouldn't have been possible!