River Pitch business competition awards $1,000 to four Selma entrepreneurs

Four Selma women won $1,000 each to go toward starting or growing their businesses by giving the best “pitch” at the second annual business competition held by the University of Alabama’s Culverhouse School of Business on Thursday.

The second River Pitch competition, part of UA’s Selma Resilience Initiative, was held at Arts Revive in Selma and featured a dozen business hopefuls outlining plans to build or grow a business in Selma in front of judges from various professions.

Winners for $1,000 each were Valerie Brown with Brown Sugar Sweet Treat, Lashun Langdon with Happiness Nutrition 2, Latanglia Dozier with BLOOM Girls Initiative and Kourtnie Nelson with Combat Cancer.

Selma Mayor Johnny Moss III welcomed the pitch participants and said he hopes the seed money from the pitch competition leads them to choose a storefront in downtown Selma soon. 

Brenda Tuck, Selma-Dallas County Economic Development Director, offered resources at the Centre for Commerce on Selma Avenue and said she has 25 years of experience working with incubators that could help with making connections.

“I’ve put together a lot of resources working with entrepreneurs and with businesses,” Tuck said. “We have resources at your disposal.”

UA also offered the business owners to participate in the Blackburn Institute’s one-day certificate program in April that would include transportation from Selma to Tuscaloosa and back. Classes will be at incubator and resource center The Edge in Tuscaloosa that is a partnership with UA, West Alabama Chamber of Commerce and the city of Tuscaloosa. 

The River Pitch will return next spring.

The Alabama Entrepreneurship Institute Executive Director Theresa Welbourne said she was impressed with all the hugging and support business prospects give each other at the Selma River Pitch competition. 

“This is a strong community, and I love how you build community and support each other,” she said.