WINNERS ANNOUNCED AT UA'S 4TH ANNUAL BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION

The University of Akron’s Fitzgerald Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies had their 4 th Annual Business Plan Competition on Saturday, April 2. Over $10,000 in prize money was awarded to the following winners:

Graduate Division

1st Place ($3,000): XGEM (Jing Wang and Katie Kuzior)

2nd Place ($2,000): Flow Control Corp. (Frank Colarik and Tally Althefery)

Undergraduate Division

1st Place ($3,000): Obstacles Gaming, Inc. (Aaron Hartley)

2nd Place: ($2,000): Libros Etc. (Valerie Pitts and Elisette Lopez)

According to Dr. Todd A. Finkle, Director of the Fitzgerald Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies and head of the competition, “The day was a complete success. Over 150 people attended and our keynote speaker, James McCready, flew up from Florida to speak at the event. Four business plans were presented to venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, students, faculty, industry and government professionals. There was so much positive energy and everyone had a great time.”

The winning graduate team was XGEM. The team focused on the microgenerator industry, which is geared toward providing an environmentally friendly, low maintenance and efficient energy source. The technology is already part of XGEM’s hybrid electric vehicle initiative. XGEM initiated with the founder, Robert Foraker. The team was also a finalist for the for the 2005 Spirit of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development (SEED) National Business Plan Competition. The competition is sponsored by Techknowledge Point, the company responsible for the Entrepreneurship School Rankings in Entrepreneur Magazine. The team competed head to head against the University of Arizona and the University of Texas at Austin , which eventually won the competition.

The winning undergraduate plan was Obstacles Gaming, Inc., which is focusing on XBOX and Playstation video gaming.

Both plans were initiated in Dr. Finkle’s entrepreneurship classes at the University. The Small Business Development Center (Bob Algera, Sheila Sterrnecker, and Than Thein) assisted XGEM with their plan.

According to Finkle, “Competitions like these stimulate entrepreneurial activity for the whole community. It gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to enhance their visibility, which may lead to eventual financing for their ventures. Our goal is to have academia, industry, and government all work together to enhance the economic environment of the region, United States and international.”

Sponsors for the competition were National City Bank, SCORE, Starbucks, TGI Fridays, Jillian's, and Posh & Bistro. The University of Akron ’s Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) Chapter ran the operations of the event.

The University of Akron 's Fitzgerald Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies has been ranked for the past three years in Entrepreneur magazine’s top entrepreneurship programs in the country. Most recently they were in the top tier of regional universities (top 60 out of over 800 entrepreneurship programs).

Click here to see pictures from the competition.