- The International Rescue Committee’s annual business pitch competition, highlighting the entrepreneurial spirit of Utah’s immigrant and refugee community, culminated this week.
- Haitian food truck owner Exancia Midy, who dreams of opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant, took the top spot.
- Next were Selam Dickerson, who wants to develop a “mobile farmers market,” and Dmytro Mateiko, developing a tourism business.
SALT LAKE CITY — Even as the immigration debate across the country rages, the age-old story of the immigrant improving his or her lot through gumption, an entrepreneurial spirit and hard work lives on.
The annual business pitch competition held by the International Rescue Committee of Salt Lake City drew the interest of 27 participants this year and culminated this week with the naming of the Top 3 finishers.
“Refugees are incredibly entrepreneurial. Studies show that they’re more likely to own a small business than the average American,” said Danny Beus, who heads the international refugee group’s Salt Lake City office. Small businesses are “the backbone of our economy,” he went on, and the group’s annual New American Dream Lab initiative is meant to help give members of Utah’s refugee and immigrant community a jump-start with their business aspirations…