A panel of judges will soon determine which three teams of students from across the state will leave the West Virginia Statewide Collegiate Business Plan Competition with $10,000 to jumpstart a new innovative business.

The final round of the ninth annual competition will be held (Friday) April 10 at the Waterfront Place Hotel Event Center, and is hosted by the BrickStreet Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship located within the West Virginia University College of Business and Economics. The goal of the competition is to provide students with the education, skills, contacts and motivation necessary to create a viable start-up company in West Virginia.

Don Nehlen, former WVU head football coach (1980-2000) will be the featured guest speaker at the event.

The 14 business plan teams competing as finalists for the three grand prizes are from Glenville State College, Shepherd University, WVU, Wheeling Jesuit University and the University of Charleston. The competition awards three $10,000 grand prizes to the winner of each category. In addition, winners will also receive a prize package worth more than $5,000, to be used for legal, marketing and accounting services, as well as incubator space.

Each category will feature at least four finalists who will make final presentations to a panel of judges before winners are announced. The three categories consist of hospitality and tourism, which deals with products or services with relevance to hospitality, restaurants, hotels, tourism or related fields; lifestyle and innovation, which includes products or services that are part of daily life or new innovations; and STEM, which includes projects with an emphasis in engineering, technology, energy and healthcare.

The following teams will be competing in the hospitality and tourism category: Allegheny Genesis, from WVU; Country Roads Meat, from WVU; Planet Density Foods, from WVU; Pubstomper Brewing Company, from WVU; and Spring Hill Equestrian Center, from Wheeling Jesuit University.

For the lifestyle and innovation categories, the teams are: Chameleon Kids, from Shepherd University; Precision Agriculture Sampling Service, from WVU; SAFEverywhere, from Glenville State College; and Temp Sentry, from WVU.

The STEM category will have the following teams in competition: ConvertOil, from University of Charleston; Creative Health, from WVU; No Drift Reality, from Shepherd University; Shady Ridge Enterprises, LLC, from WVU; and Sustainable Dental Products, from WVU.

“Each year the quality of the business plans and the competition as a whole has improved, and this year confirms that fact. We have an outstanding group of competitors who have done a great job in preparing their business plans,” said Steven Cutright, director of the BrickStreet Center. “It has been our goal to make the competition better for the participants, and the intense competition demonstrated this year really displays that position. We’re pleased with the progress and participation, and we’re looking forward to the final competition.”

The West Virginia Statewide Collegiate Business Plan Competition, now in its ninth year, has helped create 35 businesses in eight years – 17 competition winners and 18 competition non-winners. The competition is presented and hosted by The BrickStreet Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the College of Business & Economics and also supported by: BB&T, West Virginia SBDC, Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation and WVU College of Law Entrepreneurship Clinic.

For further information on the WV Collegiate Business Plan Competition, please visit be.wvu.edu/bpc.

-WVU-

mm/04/07/15

CONTACT: Steven Cutright, WVU BrickStreet Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
304.293.7861; Steven.Cutright@mail.wvu.edu

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