EngenuitySC Announces Winner of $5,000 Ideas Contest at Ignite! 2014 Celebration

COLUMBIA, SC – An energized crowd of hundreds of Midlands leaders and innovators chose Shambi Broome of Webgyrlz Code to win the $5,000 Ideas Contest, sponsored by Wells Fargo, at Ignite! 2014, EngenuitySC’s annual celebration of economic competitiveness held at The Zone at Williams-Brice Stadium on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2014.

Webgyrlz Code is a training program that teaches young girls how to hand-code websites, founded by Shambi Broome. The program, designed to encourage female interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields and foster lasting life skills, will teach girls in third through fifth grades how to build websites using HTML5 and other programming languages.

During her Ignite! Ideas Contest pitch, Broome spoke about her love of technology at an early age – and how she wants to provide other young girls the opportunities to get involved with computer programming (a historically male-dominated field).

After a live-voting session at Ignite!, Broome was announced as the winner of the 2014 Ideas Contest and awarded $5,000 by EngenuitySC and Wells Fargo to fund the further development of Webgyrlz Code.

The two other finalists for the Ignite! Ideas Contest were Jessie Albin of Red Finch Roasters, a coffee house/semi-public art studio hybrid, and Sam Ervin, Faris Montgomery and Shraddha Pandya of Goodsupply, a social platform that matches nonprofits’ specific needs with donors.

Ignite! is EngenuitySC’s annual celebration of economic competitiveness, entrepreneurship and innovation in the Midlands, bringing together new media, technology and business leaders, innovators, students and entrepreneurs to celebrate forward-thinking economic development in the Midlands.

In addition to shark tank-style presentations by the three Ideas Contest finalists and live voting for the winner, guests enjoyed an evening of engaging speakers, reserved banquet seating, valet parking and networking with CEOs and local leaders, sponsored by McWaters, Inc., as well as an open bar and light supper by Chef Scott Hall – a Cooking Channel regular – courtesy of BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina.

Keynote speakers included Michelle Brooke-Marciniak, SHEEX Co-Founder/Co-CEO and former WNBA athlete, Mark Plessinger, Owner of Frame of Mind and Founder of First Thursdays on Main Street, Jeff Archie, Sr. Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer of the South Carolina Electric & Gas Company, Andrew Askins, CEO and Co-Founder of the Krit online client management platform and Maria Fabrizio, lllustrator, designer, early riser, owner of Studio Ria and creator of Wordless News.

EngenuitySC would like to thank its Ignite! 2014 anchor sponsors, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, Wells Fargo Bank and McWaters, Inc., as well as emcee Anderson Burns, ABC Columbia news anchor.

Stay on top of future Ignite! updates by following the #IgniteCAE hashtag and @EngenuitySC on Twitter or via Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/engenuitysc.

About EngenuitySC

Headquartered in Columbia, S.C., EngenuitySC is a public-private partnership focused on enhancing our region’s economic competitiveness and prosperity. Through collaboration with business, government, higher education and community leaders, EngenuitySC builds partnerships and measures success around five indicators of competitive communities: innovative capacity, talent, entrepreneurial/business environment, livability and strong industry clusters. Through our innovative process, unique vision and ability to create a plan and deliver results, EngenuitySC is working to build a more competitive and prosperous Midlands region. For more information, visit http://www.engenuitysc.com.