October 9-11, 2024

Birmingham, Alabama

Thank you for coming to the 10th annual Lions Den competition!  Looking forward to 2024!

*  2024 APPLICATIONS OPEN  *

About the event

Cedarworks, Inc. presents the 11th annual Lions Den competition on October 9-11, 2024 in Birmingham, AL at Highlands College. The “Shark Tank” style Main Event features 3-4 business-as-mission companies competing before a live audience and panel of judges, seeking capital, resources, and exposure.

  • The Professional Summit encompasses all Wed-Thurs Lions Den activities. On Wednesday this included dinner, a speaker, introductions to the competing companies, and structured networking. On Thursday, it included breakfast, a keynote luncheon, dinner, plenary sessions, multiple breakout sessions, the Main Event, and additional networking opportunities.
 
  • The Accredited Investor Meeting (Friday) gives an opportunity for Accredited Investors to go deeper, ask questions, and meet with the presenting companies one-on-one to determine any future partnerships.

Why You Should Come

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Summary of 2023 Schedule

2024 schedule coming soon…

Wednesday, October 11 – THE CLUB
6:00 – 9:00 PM      Summit Registration & Dinner

Thursday, October 12 – HIGHLANDS COLLEGE
7:00 – 8:00 AM      One-on-One Consults
8:00 – 8:30 AM      Summit Registration, Breakfast
8:30 – 8:50 AM      Summit Opening Plenary Session
9:00 – 10:15 AM    Summit Breakout Sessions 1
10:30 – 11:45 AM  Summit Breakout Sessions 2
12:00 – 1:15 PM    Summit Keynote Luncheon
1:15 – 2:00 PM      Summit Closing Plenary Session
2:15 – 3:30 PM      Summit Industry Sessions
3:30 – 4:30 PM      Break/Networking/Exhibits
4:30 – 6:30 PM      The Lions Den Main Event
7:00 – 9:00 PM      Summit Wrap Dinner

Friday, October 13 – HIGHLANDS COLLEGE
8:00 – 12:30 PM    Accredited Investor Meeting

Our Purpose

To ‘Inspire, Educate, and Mobilize’ business professionals to use their time, talents, and other resources to advance God’s Kingdom using Business As Mission (BAM). 

Real Businesses Seeking

Real Investors For Real Impact

The Lions Den is a Cedarworks,Inc. Event

A group of Birmingham business professionals created The Lions Den event in 2014 to “Inspire, Educate and Mobilize” people to invest their time, talents, and other resources in the Kingdom through “Business as Mission.”

The group created the non-profit Cedarworks, Inc. to produce the event as it encourages a diverse community of participants from around the world and in the Birmingham area.

The Lions Den began to establish itself as a forum for action-oriented professionals coming from across the country to network and collaborate.

After multiple requests for more in-depth content, Cedarworks added the Professional Summit to the event. The additional time allows experts to further interact on Business As Mission issues, topics, and case studies.  Other cities followed Birmingham’s lead: Dallas in 2016 and Silicon Valley in 2020.

To illustrate the broad appeal, over 600 came to The Lions Den Main Event in 2022, with 10 countries, 159 cities, and 32 states represented. Summit participants enjoyed a series of plenary sessions on the past, present, and future of BAM, as well as a series of smaller breakout session topics and of course, two great dinners, and a lunch with keynote speaker Dwight Nordstrom.

Watch for 2024 Sponsorship
Opportunities!

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