EXPAND Announces Top 20 Contestants

The EXPAND contest, which will select a budding business for a $25,000 prize has selected its top 20 from the 178 businesses initially entered.

The Top 20 Businesses now advance to the Semi-Finals Round competition where they must present their business pitch to the five panelists at WBRA TV studios before a live audience.

Each business owner will have five minutes to tell the panel about the business and how the business will grow if the business wins the contest. The panel then has 10 minutes to question the contestant. Once all contestants have presented, the panel will then select one business from each of the five teams to advance to the Final round of competition.

The five finalists will present their business pitch at Super Synergy on Oct. 27, where the grand prize winner will be announced.

Here are the finalists:

Team 1 – Mentor: Kimberly Eakin: At Home Caregivers George R. Puckett); SleepEZ Diagnositic Center, Inc.(Raquel Rothe); Milkin’ Cookies (Lennox McNeary); 24/7 Hunting TV (Kevin Cameron).

Team 2 – Mentor: Dawn LeMone: Better Building Works (Monica Rokicki); Mountain View Equine Hospital (Wynne DiGrassie); ADA Specialties (Gary Feazell); Skill-Capped.

Team 3 – Mentor: Hugh Ballou: Muneris (Burman S. Clark); Phoenix, LLC (Ashley Callahan); Engagn (Marek Zareba); Whitewash.m2 Publishing (Dennis Graybill).

Team 4 – Mentor: David Shanks: NjoynLife2 (Theresa Childress-Foster); SitMyBaby! (Roger Duncan); Blinkmatchapp.com (Allan Tsang); Valley Energy Consultants, LLC (John Cook).

Team 5 – Mentor: Mike Hamlar: The Inn on Campbell (Keith Hummer); Nature’s Nectars(Sharisse Brookins); Bulldog Field Equipment; Know Better LLC (Robert Kenny).

Honorable Mentions: Glow-A-Rama; Azario Spa & Salon; The Hour of Joy; Sundara; Wine Gourmet; LiveBasin; The Design Consign Shop; Rainbow Hill Farms; Creative Occasions; New Moon Creative Media.