Pace SBDC Client, FABSCRAP, Wins Pitch Competition!

Jessica Schreiber, founder of FABSCRAP, won the fall 2016 New York Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Pitch & Competition and received a $2,500 cash award. As a Pace SBDC client, she was one of more than twenty competitors who presented to a panel of judges from Capital One, who sponsored the event.

In her pitch Jessica highlighted the environmental, financial and public relations benefits her small business offers to the more than 20 ongoing clients she has secured in the past four months, including Nautica, Eileen Fisher, Mara Hoffman, Lafayette 148, Maiyet, and the BF+DA. Jessica also walked the panelists through her operations and the steps through which the textile waste goes from cutting room floors to her end users, such as industrial manufacturers that shred the material and “down-cycle” it for mattress stuffing and insulation as well as local designers, students and artists who “up-cycle” the material. In fact, Jessica pointed out that the blouse she wore to the competition was made by a designer with free upcycled material she secured through FABSCRAP. She “closed” her pitch with a request for funding to enable her to expand her team and capacity.

In preparation for the competition, Jessica participated in a two-part workshop series hosted by the Pace SBDC that provided guidance on how to develop the introduction, body and “close” of your pitch, and concrete strategies to help turn future opportunity into new business. Jessica also worked with Pace SBDC Senior Business Advisor Rawle Brown on mapping out her business growth as well as building out her financial projections, and received targeted market research regarding textile recycling and New York City’s apparel manufacturing industry from NYSBDC’s Research Network.

If you are interested in participating in the spring 2017 competition, please email SBDC@Pace.edu .