The Arkansas State University College of Business has announced its 2015 Business Plan Competition winners.
Shane Hunt, dean of the college, said the competition provided the largest amount of monetary prizes — about $6,000.
The overall winning plan and most innovative idea is “Beyond Critical,” which includes students Michelle Allen, Alex Goff, Jason Card, Derrick Stroh and Runkun Zhang. The group won a total prize of $1,400.
Goff, a chemistry major, conceived the idea after researching how to improve processes for reusing oil. He teamed up with the other students to work on commercializing the process.
“We do really encourage students from all the colleges to participate in the annual competition as we have students from five colleges and two campuses participating this year,” said Erick Chang, ASU associate professor of management.
“Students find students without faculty interaction. Michelle got Alex, an A-State rugby player, involved in the competition when the team wanted to have a winning idea, but they were missing the innovation element. That is why our competition differs from others, as we want students to act and behave entrepreneurially rather than force them to work on researchers’ or university’s ideas on a for-hire situation. We are different and that is why we are proud of our results.”
The team received very useful advice from William Burns, chair of the Department of Chemistry and Physics and associate professor of chemistry, and Benjamin Goff, Alex’s father.
Second Place
The second place team and winner of the elevator pitch included Rebekah Dillon, Hannah Barnett, Jeffery Martin and Jennifer Myers, who won $750. Their business idea, “Car Seat Comfort,” is a heating-cooling pad that can be attached to a child car seat. The pad also contains a sensor that can alert if the child is in the seat or close to the parent.
Dillon provided the second win in a row for an honors student-led team in the Live Elevator Pitch category.
Third Place
Third place, worth $300, went to Brittany Berry, Jason Brock, Sarah Dickerson and Emily Fisher for “Find Me.”
The idea involves a micro global positioning system chip that can be attached to different items or even pets so the user can track it from a smartphone. The main distinction from existing competitors is the use of GPS technology instead of Bluetooth.
Freshman Elevator Pitch Winners
In the freshman video elevator pitch category, the $600 winner is “Rhodes Band,” with Sarah Pitts, Morgan Krokstrom, Uriel Esparza and faculty adviser Sheena Gammon. The idea is a band that can be used to track and seek persons who may be suffering from Alzheimer’s.
Sarah Hoeting, Allison McQuay, Taylor Parket and Wesley Hogan took second place with “SPOT,” winning $400. The group’s faculty adviser is Dr. Philip Tew. “SPOT” is an application that can help students find parking spots on campus.
Third place and $300 in prize money went to “WeCare Package,” with Jennifer Fullen, Morgan Walters, Laiken Kaylor, Ann Philips and faculty adviser Kerry Tew. The idea is a nonprofit organization that will sell a package of food and supplies to organizations helping homeless, foster homes, soup kitchens and schools.
Other Winners
A $200 award was given to Marvin Jones of ASU-Beebe; Sheena Gammon, ASU instructor of business administration; and Kerry Tew, program director for the first-year experience, for the newly created category for faculty advisers.
Other teams competing in the final rounds were also awarded monetary prizes.
The teams will be working on finalizing business plans and compete in the 2016 Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup to defend their state-level competition championship.
Photo: Members of the overall winning team “Beyond Critical” — (from left) Derrick Stroh, Alex Goff, Michelle Allen, Dr. Shane Hunt, Runkun Zhang and Jason Card. Photo by Andrew Ferguson.
