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V O L . X X V I I I N O. X X V I I I N OV E M B E R 2 8 , 2 0 2 2 12 B A N K I N G / F I N A N C E / I N S U R A N C E F O C U S NKENNE's contest victories include the Capital One Catapult program, an annual program to help diverse business owners develop a solution to a critical business challenge, and the Dartmouth (College) Entrepreneur Forum Pitch at Odokara-Okigbo's alma mater. In Maine, NKENNE was a finalist in both "Greenlight Maine" and the Big Gig Pitch-Off. As this year's emerging-business award winner in the Gorham Savings Bank LaunchPad contest, NKENNE won a $10,000 grant plus $10,000 of in-kind business and marketing-related services. e subscription-based app was launched on Nov. 11, the same day as the release of Marvel Studios' super- hero sequel "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever." e release follows nine months of beta testing on the web-based platform, which is up to 100,000 users worldwide. Users, who are mostly female, include col- lege students wanting to learn more about their African roots as well as high schoolers applying to college. Outside his business ventures, Odokara-Okigbo is a singer, songwriter, performer, actor and producer — with a stage name of Michal O. — who has performed at the Lincoln Center, the White House and sung the National Anthem at various venues. He describes his music as a mixture of R&B and Afro-beats and likens business-pitch contests to musical performances. His long-term goal is to secure funding from angel and other types of investors for NKENNE. bluShift blasts off In Brunswick, bluShift Aerospace is a rising rocket startup that has tapped multiple funding sources. Pitch-contest victories include a $5,000 third-place finish in "Greenlight Maine" in 2021, and first place in Dirigo Labs' inaugural pitch contest this past June, beating 11 rivals. Besides taking home $25,000 in prize money and winning the Audience Choice Award in the Waterville contest, bluShift received a one-year dedicated desk membership to Bricks Coworking and Innovation Space in Waterville. e contest followed a 12-week accelerator program that paired participants with mentors. Sascha Deri, bluShift's founder and CEO, said that while he was at first hesitant about participat- ing because of the time commitment, he is now glad that he did. "I went from doubting its usefulness to 'Oh wow, this is incredible, this is really helpful,'" he says. rough the 60-member mentor network, he says, bluShift was able to connect with people "with specific knowledge of our pain points to give us advice. It was spot on." e company has tapped into other funding sources from crowdfunding site Wefunder to grants and loans from the Maine Technology Institute; it's also raised money through a platform called Slicing Pie, which lets people invest their time and/or money for future equity in early-stage startups. For Deri, the next step is to find more traditional investors outside Maine. One important lesson he learned from "Greenlight Maine" is to always speak from the heart. His advice to fellow entrepreneurs: "Never memorize what you're going to say. It doesn't come across as authentic, whereas doing it in your natural talking voice is much easier." HighByte's LaunchPad lessons For some startups like HighByte, one business pitch contest — and victory — is enough. e Portland- based industrial software provider won the $50,000 Gorham Savings LaunchPad prize in 2021, after Torey Penrod-Cambra's closing argument about winning the "tech talent war." e company, which used the prize money to invest in recruitment, is now at 22 employees work- ing in areas including research and development, marketing, sales and operations. Penrod-Cambra, HighByte's co-founder and chief marketing officer, says the money wasn't the only draw for participating. "I was also excited by the idea of sharing our story and the recognition that would come with that if we could make it to the live pitch," she says. She says she prepared by reading and watching the judges' guidance, and then applying that advice to her own pitch, focusing on innovation and how HighByte would use the funds if it won. » C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E It may seem strange to hear a financial advisor tell you that saving money can sometimes be a bad thing. When it comes to insurance policies, however, it's more important to get what you pay for rather than pay the least that you can. Because insurance isn't about what you pay in premiums, it's about what those premiums protect—and how well they protect it. J O S E P H P O W E R S , F O U N D I N G P A R T N E R & C H I E F P L A N N I N G O F F I C E R G R E A T D I A M O N D P A R T N E R S . C O M C O N T I N U E D O N PA G E 1 4 » P H O T O / F R E D F I E L D P H O T O / J I M N E U G E R Sascha Deri, founder and CEO of bluShift Torey Penrod-Cambra, co-founder and chief marketing officer of HighByte

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