The Midlands African Chamber celebrated its first annual Pitch Black competition on August 06, 2021. The competition featured local business owners and start-ups who were competing for a chance to win $10,000.

Pitch Black is designed to:

• Fill gap by bringing together great minds, capital and expertise in order to promote economic advancement in the community
• Promote entrepreneurship in diverse communities in the Midwest

Pitch Black 2021 received 20 initial competitor submissions. Contestants participated in 3 preliminary rounds in May, June and July. A panel of four judges made their selection of the 5 top-ranking participants based on the scoring guidelines after the third and final preliminary judging round. The final 5 finalists included:

• Islasimone Candle LLC
• Gifted Minds Learning Center
• English Language Network
• The One Security Solutions LLC
• House of Bah

Then the 5 finalists made their live pitch during the main event on August 28, 2021 at Hilton Garden Inn Omaha Aksarben Village.

More than 30 bsuinesses championned the event as sponsors in support of the extraordinary entrepreneurs to create positive change in Omaha and the midwest.

Thanks to our primary sponsors, we were able to give out larger cash prizes to the competitors.