Twenty-one on-the-verge Detroit retail entrepreneurs will compete for nearly $40,000 in prizes at TechTown’s Retail Boot Camp Showcase on November 15. The entrepreneurs are all graduates from TechTown’s eight-week Retail Boot Camp, and the evening will include a pop-up marketplace and a pitch presentation. Five standout entrepreneurs will receive Kickstart Awards, designed to help them open their retail businesses within the next 6-12 months.  Each Kickstart package includes financial support up to $7500 to be directed toward a permanent or pop-up space, inventory and/or a point-of-sale system. All graduates will receive business consulting and support services from TechTown’s SWOT City program and its partners, valued at $3500 per business.

Retail Boot Camp is an intensive, eight-week program that prepares serious, Detroit-based entrepreneurs for the opening of their brick-and-mortar retail establishments. The program has gained a reputation for launching successful and much-anticipated businesses that are catalyzing neighborhood commercial districts. Sixty-four percent of graduates in the program’s first four years are currently operating or opening soon in permanent or pop-up locations, including Paramita Sound, House of Pure Vin, Mama Coo’s Boutique, Ashe Supply Co., Breathe Beauty Bar, Third Wave Music, Pedicure & Shoes 2 Go and Live Cycle Delight.

“Retail Boot Camp graduates have a tremendous track record of success,” says Regina Ann Campbell, TechTown’s managing director for place-based entrepreneurship. “All of our graduates leave the program with the tools and connections they need to hit the ground running. Our Kickstart Awardees are especially poised to launch within the next year, and we are excited to provide them additional financial support to help them cross the finish line.”

Judges for the pitch competition include representatives from Bedrock Real Estate, the Detroit Development Fund and Motor City Match, a program of the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, as well as local entrepreneurs.