Winner of the MBA Entrepreneurship Venture Panels…
On Wednesday 17th November between 5:00pm and 8:00pm the MBA Entrepreneurship class presented their business plans to a panel of investors. Like the undergraduate New Venture Planning course the postgraduate students develop a business idea and spend the entire semester researching the business plan, which they then present to a panel of ‘prospective investors’. The MBA course has a twist though, groups are randomly selected and 30% of the course grade goes towards peer assessment. In the panels the students were assessed on their two page executive summary, their formal 15 minute presentation of their business and a 30-40 minute interview which involves the panel scrutinizing all aspects of the business proposal. Three groups presented this year.
The first group ‘Eyes on Auto’ included: Dan Kramer, Luther Edwards, Elijah Asagbra, Katie Lamere and Lauren Jackson. They proposed to develop a business that enabled customers of repair shops to track the work on their vehicles and watch over the internet as repair mechanics worked on their cars. The team had a sophisticated technology solution that incorporated online tracking, video cameras, swipe card systems, live video streaming and text and e-mail updates from the garages. They sought to raise $500,000 in equity finance from outside investors to start the business. The venture panel was very impressed with how the students managed to explain a complex business in a straight forward manner.
The second group ‘Greenhouse’ included: Elizabeth Pierce; Caoyuan Zhang, Brian Middleton, Ryan Carter and Chandan Maitrani. The team presented a retail concept that “…established energy-saving and environmentally friendly store… that provides new innovative solar, energy efficient and eco-friendly devices to customers”. Their proposed store in the Oglethorpe Mall in Savannah is to have all sorts of interesting solar and energy efficient devices including: a water powered clock; energy monitors; and, solar camping ovens. The venture panel were very complimentary about the teams 15 minute presentation and particularly the aids they used to demonstrate the concept which included a brochure of the products that would be sold.
The final group to present was ‘Rent-A-Ride’ and the team included: Trey Roberts; Brad Stamaris; Megan Lansing; Jeremy Eason; and, Kristen Dunlap. Rent-A-Ride presented a “…specialty automated bike rental service tailored to campus based universities”. The system based on systems in major cities in the Europe and the US involves rental kiosks that allow students to rent bikes for short periods to get between different points on a campus, returning the bike at any appropriate kiosk at their destination. The venture panel were particularly enthusiastic about this business concept but also rated the team highly for their presentation and interview performance.
AND the winner is ‘Rent-A-Ride’ who will be invited to represent Georgia Southern University at the Georgia Bowl Business Plan competition.
The Center for Entrepreneurial Learning & Leadership would like to thank the venture panel: Jim Williams (JM Williams Inc.); Ron Medinger (MRC Associates LLC); Lynn Lilly (The LillyGroup LLC); John Telgener (Retired VP – United Technologies); Wendy Woodrum (SBDC).
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