There are two new “most important questions” to ask yourself as a small business owner: “What can $100,000 do for my business?” and “How resilient has my business been through these trying times?”  

That’s because Kapitus is launching its inaugural Building Resilient Businesses (BRB) contest, with the top prize being $100,000. The contest is being launched to salute the resilience of small businesses around the country, especially during the last two-and-a-half years as they have been plagued by the COVID-19 pandemic, high inflation, supply chain issues and “The Great Resignation.”

The contest is being launched this year as a way for Kapitus to give back to the small business community, especially those that have shown the grit and determination to survive and thrive through these difficult economic times. 

“The mission has always been the same at Kapitus, which is to really help the small business community grow by providing capital to them,” said Josh Jones, CRO at Kapitus. “For our evolution as a company, we’ve hit the level of scale where the mission hasn’t changed, it’s just been added to – we are at a point in our growth where we have the ability to give back in a way that’s meaningful. We want to make an impact, not only by supporting the small business community with the financial products that we offer but also by injecting capital to help build small businesses back up.”

The Contest

Starting May 2, 2022, small businesses can submit a homemade video (professional videos will not be accepted) either from their smartphones or camcorders sharing their small business story and what $100,000 could do for their business and help them continue to be successful. Contestants can also share the ways in which their businesses showed resilience in the face of these trying economic times. The deadline for submission is June 30, 2022.

Once all of the submissions are in, the Kapitus team will select finalists, and then the public will get to vote on the winners, who will then be announced on August 23, 2022. If you don’t win the $100,000, don’t worry – the second-place winner will receive $50,000, and five third-place winners will each get windfalls of $20,000. Additionally, all winners will also receive a free eight-hour advisory session in one of the following areas: digital marketing, finance management or data analytics to further help them grow.

The contest is open to small businesses in the US, except in Colorado and Vermont (sorry, your states don’t allow contests of this kind), that have been in business for at least one year as of May 1, 2022, that had revenue under $5 Million in 2021 and that have been actively generating revenue in 2022 (see official rules for a full list of qualifications and submission guidelines).

“During these challenging times, addressing the financial help and educational resources needed for business continuity is more important than ever,” said Kapitus CEO Andrew Reiser in a press release. “We created the BRB contest as a larger initiative to help the small business community overcome these challenges and continue to thrive for years to come.”

For additional details on the BRB Contest, including qualifications and submission guidelines, visit Kapitus.com/brb .

Not Done Giving Back

The BRB contest is only one part of Kapitus’ focus on giving back to small businesses. Part of the BRB initiative is to provide businesses that have faced hard times with with educational resources and tools to help them rebound. 

Some of the future ways Kapitus is considering expanding the BRB program is to come up with ways to assist small businesses that have been forced into crisis mode, be it from a natural disaster or the re-emergence of COVID-19, for example, and assist other small businesses in reaching their next level of growth with financial assistance or educational tools. Kapitus is also considering ways to help small businesses in underserved communities, as well as women- and minority-owned businesses.  

Kapitus has created groups on Facebook and LinkedIn to give small businesses a private and dedicated space to continuously learn and connect with fellow business owners and to get access to ongoing information and resources to help them run their business, In addition, Kapitus has created a blog filled with valuable articles on how to improve your small businesses.

Good Luck!

The Kapitus team is truly excited to see your entries and award the winners of our first-ever BRB contest. Be sure to submit your video on time so that you can be considered, and check out the other educational resources that Kapitus has to offer through the BRB initiative.