Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Thursday night was the official kickoff of The University of Alabama’s annual river pitch competition and this time, it was in Selma.

The inaugural event took place at the George P. Evans Reception Hall, geared towards those in the community who always dreamed big and had an idea that could catapult them towards the future of entrepreneurship.

Preston McGee, who was the emcee of the Selma River Pitch and the Community Outreach Coordinator of UA’s Selma Resilience Initiative, said “the overall goal of the event was to identify the ideas in Selma and Dallas County and to figure out how they can get Individuals with those ideas to the next level.”

Many participants with various business ideas attended the event and eventually, all participants were sectioned off into four booths.

Each booth was based upon the stage the individual’s idea was in.

“The first booth was considered a brand-new idea booth, and the fourth booth was looked upon as a booth for entrepreneurs who had a business idea that was more developed,” according to McGee.

When all participants were in their assigned booths, each participant had a chance to stand up in front of their booths’ judges, state their business, explain their why behind the idea and to answer follow up questions from the judges of their overall plans if they were selected to receive funding.

Out of every booth, there would only be one winner, according to McGee, who would receive a $1,000 check to help with the efforts of getting their dreams off of the ground and into action.

One of the competing participants named Uleter Nix, said her idea was to have a home care agency in honor of her late mother, who she felt did not receive the proper home health care when she was living that she deserved.

“That’s why I created Bettie’s Chic Home Care Agency, in her honor and to serve others like her,” Nix said. “In Selma, Alabama, many seniors and disabled individuals are forced out of their homes, not because they want to, but due to the lack of care they receive sometimes in home health care.”

Nix said her business helps seniors and individuals with disabilities live safely and it also brings comfort to elderly residents within their home by providing excellent personal care, medication reminders and a new approach to companionship and care giver support.

“What makes us different is our heart,” Nix said. “We’re community recruited, family focused, and we give the same love that I gave to my mother as well,” said Nix to the judges within her booth.

Like Nix, Radiance Ransom, who is a senior at Dallas County high School was also competing within the local river pitch to make a significant change within her community and impact the health and wellness of people as well.

“My business is Queen City Spa and Wellness Center,” Ransom said. “I wanted the judges to know that mental health is so important and sometimes we bottle our emotions up because we don’t know how to handle them, or we don’t know what to say and how to say it.”

Ransom told STJ that through her business idea, she wants to provide her clients with comfortability, a place to relax and a place to obtain a quality service whether it’s through them getting their nails done, a massage or attending a Pilates or yoga class to relieve any stressful emotions.

Like Nix and Ransom, there were several other competing participants with great ideas, who pitched to their judges within their booths as well.

“So, every business in our booth that presented tonight is worthy of being pursued,” said Peter Ludovice, who was a judge of booth two and who is the Executive Director of the Engineering Entrepreneurship Program at The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. “And frankly, these businesses were as innovative and good, if not more so, than the businesses I saw at the last Tuscaloosa River pitch.

Like Ludovice, another judge named Wendell Coleman, told STJ he was intrigued to come to Selma for its first river pitch, because Selma is historic and that when he was asked if he could support the process, he said it was a no brainer for him to be in this location and to be in the atmosphere in Selma.

“Selma grows warriors,” Coleman said. “Selma is a historic, beautiful place to be in and the fact that this location is participating in the entrepreneur process, I wanted to meet these people that live here in Selma and that have a passionate idea.”

At the end of the event, four winners were called to the center stage starting with Tyra Ross, who had a visionary to conduct sewing classes within her business called Anea’s Designs.

The second winner was Radiance Ransom, who had the visionary for Queen Spa and Wellness Center and the third winner was Stephanie Jackson, who wanted to mold the minds and bridge the gap between people and children with special needs.

The fourth and final winner of Selma’s first-ever river pitch competition was Uleter Nix, of Bettie’s Chic Home Care Agency.

McGee said he is proud of everyone who participated within the event and hopes all those who did pitch their business, continue to reach their goal of success and to keep pushing forward within the entrepreneurship journey.