The need to transition to more sustainable fisheries has become an immutable mantra, and a February workshop at Salem State University may help New England seafood businesses sharpen their business focus and their approach to investors.
The three-day workshop, scheduled for Feb. 6-8, is being organized by Carmel, California-based Fish 2.0 as a primer for New England wild-caught seafood businesses — both established and start-ups — interested in making a bigger splash in the markets in which they operate.
The workshop, sponsored by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and Massport, also may serve as a launching pad into Fish 2.0’s subsequent global business-plan competition, which seems a curious merger of television’s “Shark Tank” and a networking Olympics.
“Those who attend the workshop will have the opportunity to proceed into the global competition,” said Remy Garderet, Fish 2.0’s managing director. “It’s not mandatory, but we believe it will be in their best interests to do so. But if they don’t, we believe there is still stand-alone value from the workshops.”
The Salem State workshop is designed to provide participants with a polished business pitch for investors. It also will provide them with an entry-ready application into the global competition, which will pay cash prizes for the best business strategies and provide access to an international cadre of investors.
While free, the workshop requires registration online at http://fish20.org/newenglandworkshop. The deadline for registering is Jan. 6 and applicants must be accepted to attend.
The materials from each entry into the global competition will be reviewed by groups of investors, who also will be available for consultations on how best to maximize business strategies.
The finals for the global competition are scheduled to be held at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, in November, though most of competition takes place online, according to Garderet.
For the first time, the global competition will contain a specific track just for New England wild-capture fisheries and supply-chain businesses.
The top three businesses from the dedicated New England track will be invited to pitch to investors at the November final event at Stanford.
More than 60 percent of the enterprises participating in Fish 2.0 in 2015 — the last time it was held — “gained investment, new partners, or new customers from connections they made during this event,” he said.
Garderet said Fish 2.0 will distribute $50,000 in prize money among the winners in five separate regional tracks — the Pacific, Southeast Asia, Chile/Peru, the U.S. West Coast and New England.
Wild-capture and seafood supply chain businesses based in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut are eligible to complete in the New England track. It also is open to “traceability, transparency and supply-chain innovation businesses.”
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