Winners of the 2011 MBA Business Plan Competition are….
On Thursday 1st December in the City Campus E-Zone Georgia Southern University held its annual MBA Business Plan Competition for students in the postgraduate entrepreneurship course (MGNT 7335). Three teams presented to a panel of judges, observers and clients. This year the course took a different approach and each of the teams worked with a local business to develop a business plan for a new product, a new venture or a growth opportunity. Student teams were mentored and supported throughout the course by two of the Center’s entrepreneurial fellows Ron Medinger and Jim Williams.
First to present were Roundhouse Railcars represented by Whittni Wright, Karl Dorsey, Travis Jurek, Erica Sellers and Scott Pittman. The idea is to provide refurbished or newly constructed streetcars that utilize a unique propulsion system. The streetcars would be refurbished at an already existing facility, The Railroad Museum in Savannah, GA. Savannah was a major hub for railroads with numerous streetcars and even though in an abandoned condition, the facility is still there. The proposal was to develop a for-profit business that refurbished streetcars for US cities trying to reintroduce streetcar systems. The team were particularly commended for their two-page executive summary and their interview performance.
Next up was AdLid Advertising presented by Kole Donaldson, Randal Bonner, John Keith and James Beeson. “They say the best form of advertising is word of mouth so put their names on their lips”. The idea is to advertise on the lids of coffee/soda/smoothies or any kind of drink that has a lid on top. It would be the first company doing so in the USA. The team identified a means to develop a high speed labeling machine that would ramp up production and enable the venture to expand quickly. They also proposed the development of a franchise system. The judges liked the concept and were very impressed with the team’s answers during a challenging interview session.
The last team to present was CoachWayne! The team included Megan Donaldson, Ehjaylyn Henry, Kassi Lee, Adrian Mora and Danny Park. Coach Wayne is a former Olympics Coach with a current facility located in the Savannah Mall that provides gymnastics, karate, ballet and cheerleading to kids focusing mainly on gymnastics. The group developed and proposed a growth strategy to include malls in Brunswick, Hilton Head and Jacksonville. The judges were particularly impressed with this group’s presentation and their ability to handled extremely challenging questions during the interview.
AND the WINNER is COACHWAYNE!
The winners will receive a prize and the honor of calling themselves the Georgia Southern University 2011 MBA Business Plan competition winners. In addition, due to the nature of the proposal, the judges chose the Roundhouse Railcar team to represent Georgia Southern at the Georgia Bowl business plan competition in January.
Thank you to our judges: Lesley Francis, Larry Zaslavsky, Ray Wenig, Connie Edwards, Howard Stryker and Leonard Blount and our clients Coach Wayne (CoachWayne!), Terry Kohler (Roundhouse Railroad Museum) and Jerry Blakely (Novel Imaging). All of the judges and clients were impressed by the quality of the students’ work.
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