Berry Farmer Encourages Intrapreneurs, Entrepreneurs and Engineers to Create Innovative Solutions for Healthcare and Agriculture
April 17, 2017 – (Oxnard, California) – Reiter Affiliated Companies Executive Chairman, Garland Reiter, participates in Startup Weekend Ventura County (SWVC) on April 21 – 23, 2017 as member of the judging panel alongside other CEOs and industry leaders.
SWVC is a joint effort between the public and private sector to create high paying jobs by encouraging, promoting and facilitating technology startups. The intent of SWVC 2017 is to create a group of advisors, mentors, subject matter experts and potential business partners to help innovators take their idea to proof of concept.
“I’m excited to be part of an event that inspires forward-thinking and innovative solutions to current industry challenges,” said Garland Reiter, Executive Chairman of Reiter Affiliated Companies. “Challenges like a decreasing labor force, evolving California labor law and lack of affordable farm worker housing have impacted Agriculture over the years. Through Startup Weekend Ventura County we hope to bridge the gap between visionaries and agriculture businesses so that we can create the future of farming.”
The inaugural event took place in March 2016 and attracted over 70 entrepreneurs. This year, the industries of focus are healthcare and agriculture.
Teams will be evaluated by a panel of judges based on the entrepreneurialism of the team leader, strength in skill set of the team, value of the proposed product/service, understanding of the customers, size of market opportunity, competitiveness of proposed product/service, feasibility of proposed product/service and ease of market entry.
Organizations involved in SWVC include: Ventura County Government, City of Camarillo, Ventura County Healthcare Agency, Ventura County Agricultural Commissioner, Ventura County Medical Center, Dignity Health St. Johns Hospitals, Semtech Corporation, Limoneira, Meissner Filtration Products, Bonipak, Z Power, Applied Wireless, Zebra technologies, Reiter Affiliated Companies, Advanced Motion Control, Camarillo Chamber of Commerce, UCSB, CSUN, CSUCI, Cal Poly and Cal Lutheran.