Other Opportunities
Take advantage of these activities which can help you develop your business idea and business skills!
- Local organizations including the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and SCORE offer small business education events throughout the year. To learn more about the current offering, visit the SBDC website
- Agtegra – The 2025 scholarship application period will open on October 1, 2024! Check out Agtegra’s website here for more information.
- Giant Vision Student Business Plan Competition – Compete for $5,000 to help get your business idea off the ground, due Friday, January 3rd, 2025. For those selected as qualifiers, the day of competition will be Wednesday, February 26th at the Ramkota Hotel & Conference Center in Pierre. https://southdakotagiantvision.com/student-competition/application/forms/http://www.southdakotagiantvision.com
- Career and Technical Student Organizations – many include entrepreneurship topics as part of their state competitions typically held in March/April. Such organizations include DECA, FCCLA, FBLA, FFA, and Skills USA. If you don’t have any of these in your high school, ask your principal about starting a chapter!
- Invent 2 Innovate (i2i) Student Competition –business model competition with a high school and college division. Entry deadline is March 10, 2024. There will be a live virtual competition on Friday, April 5, 2024. Click here to view the website for the competition.
- Dakota State University – business plan competition for high school students. Application deadline is March 11th, 2025 by 5:00 PM. The Competition will take place on March 28th, 2025 at DSU. For more information contact Brenda.Merkel@dsu.edu for more 2025 details.
- SD Fast Launch – designed to assist South Dakota entrepreneurs and small businesses with beginning and expanding their business through the South Dakota Giant Vision Competition and SBIR/STTR funding. Here are the links to their website and flier.
- Congressional App Challenge – A free national digital app competition open to high school and middle school students in SD. Any coding program can be used and there is no restrictions on type of app. They have resources to learn to code and are accepting entries from all skill levels. Learn more here at their website! https://www.congressionalappchallenge.us/ The deadline to register is currently closed, but will reopen in the summer. Registration open for 2023
- Northern Tech Innovation Camps- Learn from industry experts and get inspired to be a tech innovator this summer at Northern State University. High School and Middle School students can register now for this FREE Tech Innovation Camps held on campus 5 Tuesdays in a row starting May 30. Priority registration is Friday, May 19th. Camps run 9:30 to 4:30 each Tuesday starting May 30. The Northern Empowering Innovators team will engage you in coding, digital media/tech in film production, artificial intelligence, tech in athletics, tech in science, and more. Lunch is provided on campus for all participants. Register today at: https://northern.edu/summertech
- VentureLab Spark Startup ESTEAM Mentorship & Materials Program– VentureLab’s ESTEAM Mentorship and Materials Program provides youth ages 8-18 with 1-1 mentor support for four months and up to $500 in materials to help start or scale their business. Fall cohort applications are due by: August 21st. Register at: https://venturelab.org/venturelab-spark/
- Institute of Competition Sciences (ICS)– The Institute of Competition Sciences has been defining best-practices in competition strategy, design, and operations since its founding in 2012. We aim to create an international system of high educational motivation, engagement, and impact through academic competition. https://www.competitionsciences.org/about-ics/