Sponsors of the 2019 Rhode Island Business Competition

The Rhode Island Business Competition thanks the following who make it possible to award prizes in the 2019 Competition.

Pillars

Bryant University

Bryant University
Bryant University has a 144-year tradition of excellence in higher education. The depth and breadth of the academic programs in the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Business offer students the flexibility to explore courses that pique their individual interests. Bryant’s unique integration of the business and the liberal arts prepares students to apply their knowledge and skills upon graduation. Outstanding faculty, state-of-the-art facilities and technology, and a focus on the development of the individual transform and empower students. The goal is to help students to realize their personal best in life and their chosen professions.

Leaders

Envision Technology Advisors

Envision Technology Advisors
Envision Technology Advisors has been providing business and technology consulting and implementation services to the New England market for more than a decade. With offices in the Providence and Greater Boston markets, Envision knows that technology solutions need to start with people - your people, our people, and the people your business serves. With specialties that include desktop and data center virtualization, cloud solutions, SQL infrastructure assessments and remediation, IT managed services, network and wireless consulting, website design and development, and more, Envision is proud to help clients make the most out of the technologies they use in their organization.

Hinckley Allen

Hinckley Allen
Hinckley Allen is a full-service law firm with 150 lawyers and offices in Providence, Rhode Island; Boston, Massachusetts; Hartford, Connecticut; and Concord, New Hampshire. Since 1906, the firm has been providing expert legal counsel to corporations, organizations, and individuals, and has earned a reputation for legal excellence delivered with a personal touch. The firm provides legal services to individuals and businesses, including many of the region's publicly held corporations and emerging business. Hinckley, Allen & Snyder LLP's practice is organized into the following principal practice areas: construction, corporate and business, employee benefits, environmental, health, intellectual property, litigation, real estate, labor and employment, personal financial planning, securities, and technology.

Integrated Media Group

Integrated Media Group (IMG) is a full-service digital marketing agency, with offices in Johnston, RI and Boston, MA. Our focus is on helping your business create engaging online content that captivates your target audience, increases brand awareness and drives sales. We do this by leveraging popular social media platforms, executing email marketing campaigns, increasing online search visibility, optimizing your web presence and implementing marketing automation strategies. IMG is also the publishing company of the Rhode Island Small Business Journal.

KLR

KLR
KLR is one of New England's premier accounting and business consulting firms. With 160 team members and offices in Providence, Boston, Waltham, and Newport, KLR provides a wide range of services to both individuals and businesses. Ranked one of the largest firms in New England, KLR’s growth and commitment to client service is unparalleled in the industry. Communication, cost saving strategies, relationships, and excellence are the core of our commitment to our clients. KLR has been awarded three Practice Innovation Awards and named one of the Best Places to Work (four years in a row). Our award-winning firm helps ensure our ability to retain the most talented professionals to support your business.

Trail Blazers

Bank of America

Bank of America
Bank of America is one of the world's largest financial institutions, serving individuals, small and medium-sized businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company began serving Rhode Island more than 220 years ago, when a group of local merchants, mariners and civic leaders founded Providence Bank. Bank of America maintains a large statewide presence, with 35 banking centers, 110 ATMs and thousands of employees.

Brown University Jonathan M. Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship

Brown University, founded in 1764, has a rich history of entrepreneurship and support of the local economy. Brown students, faculty and alumni take advantage of a growing array of undergraduate, graduate and continuing education courses, programs and events related to entrepreneurship and innovation. New ventures are a vibrant mix of for-profit and social mission companies that include bio-tech, green-tech, web, consumer, education, service, and healthcare. The Nelson Center, launched in 2016, provides an interdisciplinary approach to entrepreneurship learning and research that is unique in higher education.

Center for Women & Enterprise

Center for Women & Enterprise
Established in 1995, the Center for Women & Enterprise (CWE) is a non-profit rganization dedicated to helping women start and grow their own businesses. As New England’s leading organization for women entrepreneurs, we work hard to ensure that all women, regardless of their economic status, are provided access to our programs and services. CWE offers scholarships to disadvantaged clients while fostering influential relationships for successful businesses women at the other end of the financial spectrum. CWE provides education, training, resources and connections to women (and men) in Boston, Worcester, and Providence. CWE is the New England affiliate for Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, serving as its certification arm for women-owned businesses.

Hatch Entrepreneurial Center

Hatch Entrepreneurial Center
The Hatch Entrepreneurial Center is a collaborative workspace for early-stage businesses and entrepreneurs, located at 244 Weybosset Street in Providence. It provides 6,000 square feet of office space to its associates and typical workplace amenities such as phone and internet access, fax, scanner, and copier machines, conference rooms, and meeting spaces. Most importantly, it enables entrepreneurs to meet and review business plans, discuss operational issues with other start-ups, and connect with mentors in the areas of accounting, finance, international business, law, marketing, and management.

Luminous

Taking a no-nonsense approach to branding, web, design, and video, our team offers innovative ideas and unconventional strategies that get results. We’re talented, ambitious storytellers who are never afraid to come up with something that’s outside the box. As Rhode Island natives, we understand the local market but have the ability to make a lasting impression nationally. Never shying away from hard work, we take the time to listen carefully to your mission and objectives.

RevUp Capital

RevUp Capital
RevUp Capital is a non-equity investment fund for companies moving fast up a revenue-driven growth curve. The RevUp platform pairs cash investment with a science-driven process to turbo charge revenue growth, while our in-house digital marketing growth platform gives our companies the tools and the human capital to get it done

Tech Collective

Tech Collective
Tech Collective is Rhode Island’s Bioscience and Information Technology Industry Association. Uniting industry, government, and academic stakeholders, our mission is to inspire, engage, educate, and employ a high-skill, high-wage Knowledge Economy in Rhode Island. Since its transition from the Rhode Island Technology Council (RITEC) in 2004, Tech Collective has received more than $8M in federal, state, and private grant funding to foster industry and workforce awareness, collaboration, and development through forums and initiatives including: Tech10, GRRL Tech, Women in Technology, Bio-Ed, and STEM-based education and training programs for K-16 students as well as incumbent and transitioning workers.

Pioneers

Bank Rhode Island

Bank Rhode Island
Bank Rhode Island is a full-service, FDIC-insured commercial bank based in Providence. The bank’s capital strength gives it the capacity to serve businesses of all sizes – from sole proprietorships to large corporations. Its local focus and consistent approach to business lending has made it the #1 SBA Lender in Rhode Island for the past two years. The bank operates 17 branches and over 60 ATM’s across the state.

Beacon Mutual Insurance Company

Beacon Mutual Insurance Company
The Beacon Mutual Insurance Company is the premier writer of workers' compensation insurance in the State of Rhode Island. Chartered by the state in 1990, we are a mutual workers' compensation insurance carrier with over 12,000 policyholders and 60% of the workers' compensation market - serving both the competitive and residual markets. We are financially secure, with approximately $400 million in admitted assets and we return excess surplus to our policyholders in the form of lower premiums and/or dividends.

Business Development Company

Business Development Company
The Business Development Company is a non-bank lender, regulated by the state of Rhode Island, which provides gap and direct funding, in the form of debt or equity, to help promising but often undercapitalized companies in Rhode Island and nearby Connecticut and Massachusetts grow and expand employment. Since our founding in 1953, we have assisted hundreds of companies to become stronger competitors while helping to retain and create thousands of jobs in Rhode Island, as well as jobs in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Dimeo Construction Company

Dimeo Construction Company
Dimeo Construction Company is an industry leader in providing innovative planning and construction solutions to clients in the educational, institutional, healthcare, life sciences, commercial and corporate sectors throughout New England. Ranked by ENR among the Top 100 construction managers in the United States, Dimeo’s 225 professionals value strong team collaboration and working from a “Builder Mindset” in assuring our clients a successful project outcome.

Navigant Credit Union

Navigant Credit Union
Navigant Credit Union, Rhode Island's first credit union established in 1915, possesses a rich history of providing financial services to individuals and families throughout Rhode Island. At the end of its first year in operation in 1915, the Credit Union recorded assets of $22,000. Today, with more than one billion dollars in assets Navigant Credit Union is among the largest credit unions in Rhode Island and one of the strongest in the country and takes pride in offering all the same products and services as a "big" bank while maintaining a personal touch.

Innovators

Fidelity Investments

Fidelity Investments
Fidelity Investments is one of the world’s largest providers of financial services, with assets under administration of $3.2 trillion, including managed assets of more than $1.4 trillion, as of September 30, 2011. Founded in 1946, the firm is a leading provider of investment management, retirement planning, portfolio guidance, brokerage, benefits outsourcing and many other financial products and services to more than 20 million individuals and institutions, as well as through 5,000 financial intermediary firms.

Newport Biodiesel - Former Competitor!

Newport Biodiesel - Former Competitor!
In service to thousands of kitchens across Southern New England, Newport Biodiesel converts used cooking oil into millions of gallons of clean burning biodiesel each year. Newport Biodiesel is proud to be a part of a clean energy future. We are excited to support the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition. Together we can Fuel a Greener New England.™ Newport Biodiesel was the Green Award winner in the 2010 Rhode Island Business Plan Competition.