If you have always thought about owning a small business and just need some start up cash, now is the time to get busy working on that business plan. Someone in Carroll County will walk away with $5,000 this fall to start a business.

What small businesses would you like to see in Carroll County? Tell us in comments.

The Carroll County Chamber of Commerce and Carroll County Department of Economic Development are partnering with Hometown Startups to launch the Carroll Biz Challenge 2012.

Jason Stambaugh recently launched Hometown Startups, a company geared towards helping small businesses access startup resources and funds. The tag line for Hometown Startups is "Bringing the American Dream Back to Main Street."

Stambaugh is also the owner of Westminster-based Wevival, a social media, marketing and web strategy service he launched in 2009.

"I am an entrepreneur myself, I know how hard it is and how lonely it can be to get a business off the ground," Stambaugh told Patch.  "These competitions have proven to be incredible opportunities for people to get noticed, get better and get a businesses started."

Stambaugh said there are a lot of business start up competitions but they are generally in larger metropolitan areas or high tech areas where there are a lot of startups like Silicon Valley.

"I wanted to bring big league opportunities to Carroll County," Stambaugh said. "A lot of these things are held on a more regional scale or are run by big organizations, they are not really local. The Carroll Biz Challenge will be local business, local sponsors, local entrepreneurs, local advisory board."

Chamber of Commerce President Mike McMullin said, "This business plan competition will ignite innovation and the spirit of entrepreneurship in Carroll County by providing a valuable opportunity for local businesses to stand behind local entrepreneurs to help them get noticed, get connected, get better and get started."

The contest is open to Carroll County residents and applications will be accepted from Aug. 15 through Oct. 31, 2012. Stambaugh said small businesses that have been operating for less than two years are eligible for the contest as well as students at Carroll Community College and McDaniel College.

For more information visit http://carrollbizchallenge.com.

Don't forget to subscribe to the Westminster Patch newsletter and Eldersburg Patch newsletter.