Bohemia, NY – March 26, 2013 – The Long Island Young Entrepreneur Challenge (LI YEC), sponsored by FrontStreet Facility Solutions in partnership with Capital One Bank, is now accepting entries until April 5th. Budding entrepreneurs aged 17-22 who either live on Long Island in Nassau or Suffolk Counties or are enrolled as an undergraduate student at an accredited Long Island college or university are eligible to compete in a business pitch competition to win up to $10,000 in start-up funding, mentorship from a Capital One Bank executive, and additional support essential for starting a business.
 
“We are excited to host our second annual Long Island Young Entrepreneur Challenge,” Joseph Scaretta, Chief Development Officer of FrontStreet Facility Solutions said. “At FrontStreet we are focused on both our clients and the community. Through this Challenge we are able to give back and strengthen our community as well foster a spirit of entrepreneurship.”  
 
The LI YEC is divided into two tracks: (1) the Entrepreneur Track open to individuals who reside on Long Island and (2) the Student Track open to those who are full-time undergraduate students at an accredited Long Island College or University. Applicants are invited to submit a business idea in 1000 words or less. To submit an application, click here. Applications will be judged on the core product/service, core client/demographic, vision, originality, and likelihood to succeed.
 
“As a local bank, Capital One Bank is thrilled to partner with FrontStreet for the second annual Long Island Young Entrepreneur Challenge,” said Michael Minerva, Senior Vice President, Capital One Bank. “This program allows our team to collaborate with a local business leader to invest in budding young entrepreneurs who are the future of Long Island. Every young entrepreneur needs a guiding hand to learn how to launch and grow a business, and we're committed to mentoring and offering other forms of support for these young entrepreneurs throughout Nassau and Suffolk Counties.”
 
The 10 top scoring entrants from the online competition, five from each Track, will be invited to the “live pitch” competition on Thurs., May 9th at Capital One Bank’s Long Island headquarters. Entrants will compete for cash start-up funding and prizes. Finalists competing at the “live pitch” competition will be met by questions from a panel of esteemed entrepreneurs. An awards ceremony will immediately follow. A $10,000 award, equipment and mentorship will be given to the top scoring “pitch” in each Track. A runner-up from each Track will be awarded equipment and mentorship for their start up.
 

• For the official guidelines of the LI YEC, click here.
•  To submit an application, click here.
•  For more information contact Jennifer Bernheim at jbernheim@frontstreetfs.com.

 
About FrontStreet Facility Solutions:
 FrontStreet is an innovative maintenance and management company, servicing customers from medium-size enterprises to Fortune 500 companies in the retail, restaurant, financial, healthcare and commercial industries. Specialty services include maintenance and repair, capital projects, nationwide rollouts and retrofits, and energy control solutions. FrontStreet offers holistic single-source facility solutions that allow our clients to deliver an exceptional brand experience to their clientele. For more information, visit http://www.frontstreetfs.com.
 
About Capital One:
Capital One Financial Corporation, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, is a Fortune 500 company with more than 900 branch locations primarily in New York, New Jersey, Texas, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Its subsidiaries, Capital One, N.A. and Capital One Bank (USA), N. A., offer a broad spectrum of financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and commercial clients. We apply the same principles of innovation, collaboration and empowerment in our commitment to our communities across the country that we do in our business. We recognize that helping to build strong and healthy communities - good places to work, good places to do business and good places to raise families - benefits us all and we are proud to support this and other community initiatives.
 
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