Congratulations to Joel Smith of Forward Mobility for taking first place in Alibaba.com’s Newpreneur of the Year competition and the $50,000 top prize! Joel plans to use his winnings to bring his latest invention, the Freedom Leg, to injured athletes, military personnel and anyone who wants to go beyond crutches and free their mobility.

Here is a video wrap-up that ran on ABC San Francisco:

More than 300 people attended the finale event at the Bently Reserve in San Francisco. Some came to see business guru Tom Peters speak, some came to support the 13 finalists and others came because they didn’t want to cook dinner that night. All kidding aside, the event was a huge success with great food, valuable networking and a heated competition.

The finalists had 90 seconds to pitch their business idea or product to a panel of distinguished judges including; David Wei, CEO Alibaba.com; David Louie, Anchor on ABC San Francisco; Kelly Sang, GM of IBDM Alibaba.com Americas; Tom Searcy, CEO of Hunt Big Sales; and Jane Berentson, Editor of Inc. Magazine.

After the judges heard from each of the finalists and tallied up the results, Kelly Sang took the stage to lead off the announcement of the winners. But first an exciting announcement was unveiled on all of the Newpreneurs and the attendees…

Kelly said that throughout the competition Alibaba.com has been so inspired and impressed by each of the 13 finalists and how they truly embody the Newpreneur spirit and resourcefulness that Alibaba.com decided to add an additional $40k in business grants to the program! Each of the 13 finalists received at least $5k from the finale and a signed copy of The Official Alibaba.com Success Guide written by Brad and Debra Schepp. If you want a book for yourself you can get on at Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Borders.

Each of the five judges announced one of the winners, accompanied by a drum roll, and each was awarded a BIG check and the satisfaction that they beat out nearly 900 applicants to become one of the Newpreneurs of the Year.

• 1^st Place, $50,000 – Joel Smith, Forward Mobility

• 2^nd Place, $25,000 – Drew Jones, DJones Tailored Collection

• 3^rd Place, $15,000 – Jonathan Ross Shriftman, Sole Bicycles

• 4^th Place, $5,000 – Imran Karim, Trophy Skin

• 5^th Place, $5,000 – Katie Shea and Susie Levitt, FUNK-tional Enterprises

What do hydrokinetic turbines, innovative mobility products and fanny packs that you wear on your head have in common? These innovative products were all at the forefront of the Newpreneuer of the Year semi-final event at the Edgewater Hotel in Seattle, Washington.

Seattle played host to our fifth Newpreneur of the Year semi-final event and the business ideas that debuted in the Northwest were some of the best yet. Despite the cool misty evening, more than 100 entrepreneurs gathered to hear Tom Searcy speak about landing big deals as a small business owner, network with peers and cheer on their favorite local Newpreneur.

The choppy water captivated some of the attendees and the hotel provided a great setting for a entrepreneurs who have a sea of possibilities ahead of them.

In Seattle, the competition was fierce but two businessmen wowed the judges with their solid products and presentation style. Chris Leyerle of Hydrovolts outlined his vision of personal turbine power for all and Joel Smith of Forward Mobility demonstrated that mobility products should not be limited to the mundane crutches found at the doctor’s office. 

On Thursday, October 22, Alibaba.com and Inc. we will hold the last Newpreneur of the Year semi-final event in Los Angeles at the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills. See you all there. 

For more information about the contest or any of our past or upcoming events visit http://inc.com/alibaba.