The 2017 Small Business Matters Top Pitch Winner

Jimmy Prude is the Founder/CEO of Jimmy’sVegan™, a company based in Chicago, that produces and sells vegan cookie products. Prude was selected to participate in the National Urban League’s Small Business Matters Pitch Competition as a result of winning the #Pitch60 pitch competition hosted by the Chicago Urban League’s Entrepreneurship Center Program led by Jason Johnson a few months prior. The National Urban League held mini pitch competitions to help provide a platform for entrepreneurs from around the country to pitch their business to a panel of judges to either obtain funding, increase exposure and/or practice their pitch as well as bring exposure to the Small Business Matters Summit as a whole. Jimmy represented Chicago well as he went on to win the top prize of $5,000 for having the best pitch out of 9 participants.

Prude says, "The National Urban League’s Small Business Matters Summit was a great opportunity to meet other young talent in the room from all across the country, along with seasoned men and women from both the public and private sectors. As a candidate of the pitch competition and recipient of the Top Pitch award, I found it to be a highly challenging endeavor in the best of ways because if forces you to be highly creative not only in your delivery but the cadence of the 60 seconds you have to outline your business narrative, goals, objective and future. Being a part of the 2107 NUL-Small Business Matters Summit reinforced that the road of entrepreneurship is highly challenging and the wins are short-term but extremely rewarding and not meant to be lived in too long. Being a business owner has a duality that is unique and must be matched with discipline that never stops developing. Both your physical and psychological health is battered most days, but the discipline to counter those external impacts is what keeps me going to reach the desired future for my family, business, and the many customers who support our business and products"

In 2011, Jimmy was inspired to launch Jimmy’s Vegan Cookies at the 79th Street Renaissance Festival, where he and his team bought 95 units of their Loaded-Vegan™ product, and sold out of all 95 units in less than five hours. From that point on the rest is history.  Jimmy’s Vegan Cookies was born so that everyday people had access to great tasting vegan foods. Healthy and delicious is a lofty goal, but at Jimmy’sVegan™ they work hard to provide their customers the ultimate Guilt Free Indulgence. The company has satisfied thousands of customers all across America, both online and offline. As a result, their products (The Loaded-Vegan & The Dark-Berry Vegan) are currently sold in select Chicagoland WholeFoods, Sugar Beet Grocery, and Mariano's.

To find out more about Jimmy Prude and Jimmy’s Vegan Cookies please go to http://JimmysVeganCookies.com, http://JimmyPrude.com, and Jimmy's Vegan Cookies-FB.