New Hampshire Business Bowl: a team effort


  New Hampshire
Is Your Business Entered in the First Annual Business Bowl?

April 25 Deadline to Enter Your Business in the Competition Phase of the May 16th Event

MANCHESTER, NH—Would you like the opportunity to treat 50 co-workers and friends to a day with the Manchester Wolves at Canobie Lake Park? How about season tickets to the Wolves games, a road trip with the team, and bragging rights as the winner of the first annual New Hampshire Business Bowl? Then it’s time to enter your business to compete in this unusual and fun competition on May 16th at Brady-Sullivan Field at the Verizon Wireless Arena during the Manchester Wolves-Tulsa Talons arena football game.

Hosted by the NH Business Resource Center (part of the NH Division of Economic Development), NH Business Review and the Manchester Wolves, the evening will begin with a free business appreciation reception at The Pavilion at the Hilton Garden Inn Manchester Downtown, followed by the competition and the football game.

The evening’s theme is teamwork, which is as necessary in business as it is on the playing field. “That’s why we’re using the theme of teamwork to choose which businesses will earn one of the three spots in the Business Bowl competition,” Roy Duddy, director of the Business Resource Center. “The competition will be on the extreme side, and winning will require a sense of humor and teamwork.”

Top prize for the Business Bowl competition will include the first Business Bowl trophy, the opportunity for team members to travel with the Manchester Wolves staff to the Wolves-Albany Conquest game at the Times Union Center in Albany, New York, on July 18th, free admission for 50 people to “Manchester Wolves Day” at Canobie Lake Park on July 19th, and Wolves 2008 season tickets for each of the team members. The second and third place teams will also receive Wolves 2008 season tickets for each of their three team members.

Three Companies to be Selected To Compete

Those interested in competing in the Business Bowl should submit a short essay (up to 300 words) on how their workplace embraces the concept of teamwork. Essays must be received by 4 p.m., Friday, April 25, and should be emailed to sboucher@dred.state.nh.us. Entries will be judged by a committee made up of members of Manchester Young Professionals Network (MYPN) and its counterpart in Nashua, IUGO, with the three winning teams notified no later than May 2.

IUGO (pronounced YOU-go) is a strategic initiative of the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce. Its name comes from the Latin term that means "to connect.” Chris Williams, President and CEO of the Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce, comments, “These two organizations help young professionals connect with each other, other businesses, employers and their communities. We’ve been working with the Governor’s Office on the retention of young professionals in the state. What’s exciting about the Business Bowl is it’s giving us new way to connect with the economic development community.”

“It’s important for us to be involved in events like the Business Bowl that reach out to the business community. Our organizations embody the young, dynamic and skilled workforce that is critical to New Hampshire’s ongoing economic development,” says Kate Benway, Chair of MYPN’s Board of Directors and Marketing Manager at the Manchester Economic Development Office. “Our members are the future leaders of business in the Granite State.”

While only three companies will be chosen to compete in the Business Bowl ‘extreme business’ events, Duddy hopes young professionals throughout the state will encourage their businesses to attend the free pre-game business appreciation reception. “The reception is designed as a networking event that will give attendees the opportunity to learn more about the free services and incentives the State offers businesses—essentially how we can be a part of their team.”

Attendees to the free reception will also learn how businesses can get their stories told in the media during a short presentation by Jeff Feingold, editor of New Hampshire Business Review; and Peter Morris, general manager of the Wolves, will talk about teamwork and the value of local ownership.

Ticket Sales To Benefit Scholarship Fund

While attendance at the pre-game business appreciation reception will be limited to 50 people, attendance at the Manchester Wolves-Tulsa Talons arena football game is open to all businesses, with tickets sold for $10 that are normally $19–$29. Half of the proceeds from the sale of these tickets will benefit the Bobby Stephen Fund for Education, a scholarship program begun by the Business Resource Center’s Director of Community Development Services, Bobby Stephen, to benefit disadvantaged students.

“We set the Fund up as a nonprofit in 1995; since then we’ve provided 125 scholarships,” Stephen explains. “We’re especially proud that 96% of the students we’ve helped get started in higher education have stayed in and graduated.” Many of the scholarship recipients have been part of New Hampshire Jobs for America's Graduates (NH-JAG), a statewide program for youth who seek to overcome obstacles in attaining a high school education and in pursuing career and postsecondary educational interests.

“By helping these disadvantaged students, we’re really able to make an impact,” Stephen continues. “They’re not just in the teens and early twenties; some are older students going to college to make a better life for their families. We believe that programs like this help make our community a better place to live and help create the workforce our businesses need.”

Reservations for the event and tickets for the game are available by contacting the Manchester Wolves at 603-627-WOLF (9653).

How to win a spot in the first N.H. Business Bowl

Does your business embody teamwork? Does your company love to work, play and compete together? Then your team belongs in first annual Business Bowl, a fun competition that will pit teams from three New Hampshire businesses against each other for the
Business Bowl trophy and prizes.

The competition will be held during the May 16 Manchester Wolves-Tulsa Talons game May, preceded by a Business Appreciation gathering at The Pavilion at the Hilton Garden Inn Manchester Downtown, to which teams as well as other business representatives will also be invited.

To win your team a spot, write a short essay (up to 300 words) on how your workplace embraces the concept of teamwork. E-mail it to sboucher@dred.state.nh.us no later than 4 p.m., Wednesday, April 25. Entries will be judged by a committee made up of members of Manchester Young Professionals Network and IUGO. Winning teams will be notified no later than May 2.