Entrepreneurs: Here’s Your Chance to Realize Your Wildest Business Dreams

If building a successful business was easy, everyone would have one. Striking out on your own and launching your business venture is exciting, can be rewarding, and always challenging.

For some, the challenges that can crop up are so daunting that they give up their dreams of business ownership entirely. If you’re the opposite, an entrepreneur who has tackled some of the toughest challenges and keeps persevering—we want to hear from you and give you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take your business to the next level.

In a partnership with Hiscox, Black Enterprise wants to know how you overcame the biggest challenge that was preventing you from moving toward entrepreneurship.

You can do that by entering our “I’mpossible” contest. Tell us in a 60-second video how you as an entrepreneur overcame your impossible—and went on to launch your venture.

The entrepreneur with the most compelling video will win an all-expense paid trip to this year’s Black Enterprise TechConneXt Summit in San Francisco as well as a chance to meet and pitch your business to a Silicon Valley venture capitalist!

Enter here and read the instructions on how to submit your video.

“I’m Possible” CONTEST OFFICIAL RULES

NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW.

TERRITORY:  50 United States of America and District of Columbia.

CONTEST PERIOD:  Contest begins at 12:00:00 a.m. (midnight) Eastern Time (“ET”) on August 14, 2017 and ends at 11:59:00 p.m. ET on September, 14, 2017 (“Contest Period”).

METHOD(S) OF ENTRY: During the Contest Period, enter by completing all of the following:

1.)   Submit any video of your “I’m Possible” experience; and

2.)   Share on one of the following websites with hashtag #HISCOXCOURAGETOPITCH

Limit one (1) entry per person per month.

Sponsor reserves the right to delete and/or exclude any inappropriate, negative or irrelevant entries, as determined in Sponsor’s sole discretion. The Websites include:

1.)   https://www.instagram.com/blackenterprise/ (Instagram)

2.)   www.facebook.com/blackenterprise (Facebook)

3.)   https://twitter.com/blackenterprise (Twitter)

4.)   www.blackenterprise.com.com (website)

5.)   http://woobox.com/ (Woobox)

PRIZE(S):

• All expense paid trip to the 2017 TechConneXt Summit
• Meeting with a Venture Capitalist in Silicon Valley

1. ELIGIBILITY: THE CONTEST IS OPEN ONLY TO LEGAL RESIDENTS OF THE TERRITORY LISTED ABOVE, WHO ARE AT LEAST THE AGE OF 18 OR OLDER AT THE TIME OF ENTRY (OR IF THE AGE OF MAJORITY IN THEIR STATE OF RESIDENCE IS OLDER THAN 18, THEN THE PARTICIPANT MUST BE AT LEAST THAT AGE AT THE TIME OF ENTRY). Employees, officers and directors of Black Enterprise and Hiscox (“Sponsor”), its parent, subsidiary, and affiliated companies, advertising, promotion or production agencies, Web masters/suppliers (and their IRS dependents, immediate family members [spouse, parents, children, siblings] and individuals residing in their same household, whether or not related) are not eligible to participate. By participating, entrants (referred to as entrants or participants) agree to these Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsor and/or its independent judging agency (the “Judges”) which are final and binding in all respects.

2. CONTEST PERIOD: Contest begins and ends at the times listed above. Sponsor’s computer is the official time keeping device for this Contest.

3. TO ENTER: During the Contest Period, enter as described above in the paragraph titled “Method(s) of Entry.” Any other attempted form of entry is void. Online entries must be received and recorded by the Sponsor’s computer during the Contest Period.  Automated entries are prohibited, and any use of automated devices will cause disqualification. Any attempt by any participant to obtain more entries than are permitted by using multiple/different email addresses, identities or any other methods will void that participant’s entries and that participant will be disqualified.  Submissions become property of the Sponsor and by participating, participants agree and acknowledge that any submissions are their original work, do not infringe the intellectual property rights of any third party and may be used by the Sponsor, at any time or times, for advertising, trade, publicity and promotional purposes without additional compensation, in all media now known or hereafter discovered, worldwide in perpetuity, and on the Internet and World Wide Web, without notice, review or approval.

4. POST CONTEST SELECTION PROCESS: Sponsor will select a potential winner and Sponsor will check all eligible entries to see if the entry was timely returned. In order to receive a prize, each potential winner must meet all eligibility requirements to be awarded a prize as a winner, including responding to Sponsor’s communications. Sponsor will contact potential winner(s) through the provide contact information or, if no contact information is provided, through the social media platform used to submit the entry. If any prize or prize notification or attempted notification is returned as undeliverable, if potential winner(s) does not respond within a reasonable time period (i.e., 5 days), if Sponsor is unable to contact a potential winner within a reasonable time period (i.e., 5 days), or if a potential winner is found to be ineligible or otherwise not in compliance with these Official Rules, the prize may be forfeited and may be awarded to an alternate winner in Sponsor’s sole discretion. By accepting a prize, winner acknowledges he or she is in compliance with these Official Rules.

5. PRIZES / ODDS:  The Prize(s) are listed above in the paragraph titled “Prize(s).”  If a winner cannot accept the prize as stated for any reason including, but not limited, not responding to Sponsor’s communications, such prize will be forfeited and may be awarded to an alternate winner in Sponsor’s sole discretion. No substitution, cash redemption or transfer of prize permitted. Odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries received. Any difference between stated value and actual value will not be awarded.

6. GENERAL CONDITIONS: By submitting an entry, each participant (i) confirms that they are at least the Age of Majority in their state of residence and, therefore, able to enter into a legally binding agreement; (ii)  releases Sponsor, Facebook, Inc., Twitter, Inc., Instagram, Inc., Woobox and each of their parents, subsidiaries and affiliated companies, advertising and promotion agencies, and all of their respective officers, directors, employees, representatives and agents (collectively, the “Released Parties”) and agrees that the Released Parties shall have no liability whatsoever for, and shall be held harmless by participants against, any liability (A) for any injuries, losses or damages of any kind to person(s), including death, or property damage resulting in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from acceptance, possession, misuse or use of any prize or participation in this Contest or any Contest-related activities (including any travel related thereto), (B) resulting from claims by third parties relating to the posting of their likeness by a participant, (C) resulting from claims that participant’s entry violates or otherwise infringes the rights of a third party, and (D) resulting from a participant’s failure to comply with these rules, and (iii) grants (and agrees to confirm that grant in writing if requested to do so by Sponsor) permission to Sponsor and those acting under its authority the right to the use of his/her name, picture, likeness, voice, video, submitted media, biographical information and statements, at any time or times, for advertising, trade, publicity and promotional purposes without additional compensation, in all media now known or hereafter discovered, worldwide in perpetuity, and on the Internet and World Wide Web, without notice, review or approval, unless prohibited by law. All federal, state and local taxes, if any, on prizes and any other costs and expenses associated with prize acceptance and use not specified herein as being provided are solely winner’s responsibility. Unclaimed prizes will not be awarded to potential winner(s) that are ineligible due to failure to claim a prize or for any other reason of ineligibility, except that Sponsor may, in Sponsor’s sole discretion, choose to award unclaimed prizes to alternate potential winner(s). Please see the Privacy Policy located at https://blackenterprise.com/privacy/ for details of Sponsor’s policy regarding the use of personal information collected in connection with this Contest. If you are selected and eligible as a winner, your information may also be included in a publicly available winners list and you consent to the same.

7. LIABILITY LIMITATIONS: Participants agree that Released Parties are not responsible for lost, late, misdirected, incomplete, or undelivered entries or e-mail; or for interrupted or unavailable satellite, network, server, Internet Service Provider, Websites, telephone or other connections, availability or accessibility, or miscommunications, or failed computer, satellite, telephone or cable transmissions, or lines, or technical failure or jumbled, corrupted, scrambled, delayed, or misdirected transmissions or computer hardware or software malfunctions, failures, or technical errors or difficulties, or other errors of any kind whether human, mechanical, electronic or network or the incorrect or inaccurate capture of entry or other information or the failure to capture, or loss of, any such information. Persons who tamper with or abuse any aspect of this Contest or otherwise attempt to undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest by cheating, hacking, deception, or other unfair playing practices or intending to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any other entrants or Sponsor representatives, as solely determined by the Sponsor, will be disqualified. Any use of robotic, automatic, macro, programmed or like entry methods will void all such entries by such methods, and disqualify any entrant using such methods. Released Parties are not responsible for injury or damage to entrant’s or to any other person’s computer related to or resulting from participating in this Contest or downloading materials from or use of the Websites. Should any portion of the Contest be, in Sponsor’s sole opinion, compromised by virus, worms, bugs, non-authorized human intervention, technical failures or other causes which, in the sole opinion of the Sponsor, corrupt or impair the administration, security, fairness or proper play, or submission of entries, Sponsor reserves the right at its sole discretion to suspend, modify or terminate the Contest, and randomly select the winner from among all eligible, non-suspect entries received prior to action taken or as otherwise deemed fair and appropriate by Sponsor. Released Parties are not responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by Website users, tampering, hacking, or by any equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Contest, and assume no responsibility for any error, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation, or transmission, communications line failure, theft or destruction, or unauthorized use of any Website. In case of dispute, the authorized account subscriber of the email account used to enter the Contest at the actual time of entry will be deemed to be the entrant, and must comply with these Official Rules. The “authorized account subscriber” is deemed to be the natural person who is assigned an email address by an Internet Access Provider, online service provider, or other organization which is responsible for assigning email addresses.

IN NO EVENT WILL RELEASED PARTIES BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OR LOSSES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF AN ENTRANT’S ACCESS TO AND USE OF ANY WEBSITE OR DOWNLOADING FROM AND/OR PRINTED MATERIAL DOWNLOADED FROM SAID WEBSITE. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, EVERYTHING ON THE WEBSITES IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. SOME JURISDICTIONS MAY NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO SOME OF THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO EVERY PARTICIPANT. CHECK LOCAL LAWS FOR ANY RESTRICTIONS OR LIMITATIONS REGARDING THESE LIMITATIONS OR EXCLUSIONS.

8. GOVERNING LAW & JURISDICTION: These Official Rules and the Contest are governed by US law and are subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations. All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of the Contest Official Rules, or the rights and obligations of entrant and Sponsor in connection with the Contest, shall be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of the State of New York, U.S.A., without giving effect to the conflict of laws rules thereof, and any matters or proceedings shall take place in the State of New York.

9. WINNERS’ LIST: The name(s) of the winner(s) will be posted on the Websites.

10. SPONSOR:  Black Enterprise, 260 Madison Avenue, 11^th floor, New York City, NY 10016

This Contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or Woobox. You understand that you are providing your information to Sponsor and not to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or Woobox. Any questions, comments or complaints regarding this Contest shall be directed to Sponsor and not to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or Woobox. Instagram is a registered trademark of Instagram, Inc.  Facebook is a registered trademark of Facebook, Inc.  Twitter is a registered trademark of Twitter, Inc. Woobox is a registered trademark of Woobox, Inc.