Morgan Peterson a finalist for entrepreneurship competition

    McCook Community College is hosting the 2021 Hormel Youth Entrepreneurship Camp competition on Saturday.
    Morgan Peterson of Imperial is one of four finalists for the top prize, and will be vying for the $5,000 first place award.
    Her business, ImpERFECT Confections, was started in October 2019. That’s when she officially branded her business name and started posting what she had to offer.
    The young entrepreneur takes orders for cakes, cupcakes, decorated sugar cookies and cake pops. She’s recently begun making mints for weddings, she noted.
    During her nearly two years in business, the most popular order is her chocolate/peanut butter cupcakes, she said. Since showing up at Imperial’s Farmers Markets Saturday mornings with them, she’s also seeing a lot of repeat orders now for her lemon blueberry cupcakes, too.
    She sold her confections at six or seven of the Farmers Markets here, and sold out every time.
    Social media has been good for her business, she said, with a regular presence on Instagram and Facebook. She said even if people don’t directly respond on those sites, people stop her and mention how they enjoy what she posts.
    The sites are great for sales, too. Recently, she had a dozen cupcakes left over and put them on one of the sites.
    “They were gone in just a few minutes,” she said.
    Peterson, a senior at Chase County Schools, is first on the schedule to make her business presentation Saturday at 1 p.m. CT in McMillen Hall on the MCC campus.
    The three other finalists will follow with presentations at 1:30, 2 and 2:30 p.m.
    Peterson will be going up against three McCook students in the competition:
    Quincy Long, Strawberry Frog Stickers.
    Kailynn Rodewald, Sweet & Sassy Cakes and Cupcakes.
    Ethan Graff, Nebraska Pizza Company.
    The students’ business plans include background on how and why their business was chosen, a cost analysis including assets and expenditures, projected costs and revenue, examples of marketing and plans for what any money would be used for.
    Immediately following the presentations Saturday, judges will adjourn to choose a first, second and third place winner.
    Prizes are $5,000 for first place, $2,500 for second place and $1,500 for third.
    A short presentation/reception will follow at which time the announcement of winners will be made. Peterson plans to have samples of her creations at Saturday’s competition.
    Winners will be asked to participate in the Nebraska Community Foundation’s annual training and banquet in McCook Nov. 17-18, since prize money for the youth entrepreneurship program derived from a NCF youth engagement grant.
    Peterson serves as a student member on the Imperial Community Foundation Fund advisory committee.
    She said she learned about the MCC Hormel entrepreneurship competition through Tyler Pribbeno, who chairs the ICFF advisory committee. Pribbeno is also Imperial’s Community Development Director.