The Mothers of Invention-A Great Opportunity for Enterprising Moms What's it take to get a groundbreaking business idea off the ground? Moms from around the country are getting the chance to make their great ideas start-up enterprises thanks to a special contest.The 2008 Whirlpool Brand Mother of Invention Grant contest is accepting submissions. The grand prize winner will receive 20-thousand dollars. Lori Pope, founder of babyplays.com and Julie Aigner-Clark, founder of The Baby Einstein Company are guest judges in the competition.
Pope who founded an online toy rental program says submissions are easy for busy moms; “This is a wonderful grant program that Whirlpool has put together to reward moms with wonderful inventive ideas that are unique in the marketplace. Moms can go to our website and submit their ideas.
Aigner-Clark has some suggestions for finding a winning enterprise: “What you want to do is look for a solution that meets an unmet need in the marketplace. Something that's unique, something that's a good business. It's got some viability behind it. And, there should be a good story behind your creation. Something that's happened to you in your life that caused you to come up with this great idea." In addition to the grand prize of twenty thousand dollars and appliances, there are several category prizes for moms that carry between five and seven thousand dollars in prize money plus appliances.
All winners will attend a two-day business boot camp led by Whirlpool experts covering areas such as product development, business strategy, innovation and technology, legal, accounting and marketing.
You can learn more about entering at www.whirlpool.com/moms until July 31, 2008. Five winners will be announced in September and will receive grant money (up to $20,000), home appliance prizes and an invitation to a business boot camp at Whirlpool headquarters.