Business Briefs for Oct. 19, 2012
Pitch Night event attracts applicants
SeNSE, a Baton Rouge entrepreneurial group, said Friday that its upcoming $125,000 ‘Shark Tank’-style Pitch Night has drawn nearly 40 applications from across Louisiana and the country.
The pitch night, being held at 7 p.m. Nov. 15 at L’Auberge Casino and Hotel, is part of Baton Rouge Entrepreneurship Week.
Five local entrepreneurs/angel investors will listen to pitches and are prepared to invest $25,000 or more in entrepreneurs or startup companies if the deal is right.
“We’ve received a great selection of potential presenters across multiple industry sectors, including tech and life science startups,” said Terry Jones, SeNSE board member and chairman of the programming committee. “It will be a tough task reducing these great candidates down to the five finalists who will have their shot at securing an investment live onstage from the angels.”
Visit http://www.celebrate
BREW.com for event details.
Motiva to pay fine in refinery settlement
Motiva Enterprises LLC will pay a $500,000 fine to settle environmental violations at the company’s Norco and Convent refineries, according to a preliminary agreement with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.
The settlement includes a 45-day comment period, according to a DEQ letter to Motiva dated Oct. 3.
Motiva has until Nov. 2 to send the payment to DEQ.
The settlement stems from hundreds of violations from 2003 to 2010, according to DEQ.
Motiva admitted no wrongdoing.
The Louisiana Bucket Brigade, an environmental watchdog group, criticized the deal, saying the fine should have been much larger and that DEQ did not make the agreement public.
Assistance available in Pointe Coupee
Workers and self-employed individuals in Pointe Coupee Parish can apply for Disaster Unemployment Assistance as a result of Hurricane Isaac, the Louisiana Workforce Commission said.
Workers who have lost their jobs and self-employed individuals unable to perform services as of the week-ending date of Sept. 8 because of the disaster in parishes eligible for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s individual disaster assistance are eligible for DUA.
The deadline to file claims in Pointe Coupee Parish is Nov. 19.
Other parishes eligible for DUA whose deadline to file has not yet passed are Allen, Morehouse and St. Martin parishes, which have until Nov. 1.
The LWC is accepting all DUA and regular unemployment insurance claims online at http://www.laworks.net or toll free at (866) 783-5567.
Louisiana ranks No. 6 for business climate
Louisiana ranks No. 6 nationally in Area Development magazine’s 2012 Top States for Doing Business report.
Area Development editors described Louisiana’s progress as remarkable because the state had not ranked in the Top 10 nationally before 2011.
“Louisiana has taken a very aggressive, targeted approach to improve its business climate over the past five years, and those efforts are clearly paying off,” the magazine’s editors wrote. “Most notably, the state ranked first for its cooperative state government and second for both its incentives programs and as a state that is leading in the economic recovery.”
Compiled from Advocate business staff and Associated Press reports