A technology to improve the shelf life of bottled products is one of four business plans created by University of Colorado at Boulder students that will compete for $5,000 in prize money on May 1.
The other business ideas include personalized discount cards for college students, an advanced tripod for semiprofessional photographers and an inventory tracking system using radio frequencies.
The students who created the business plans will participate in the 2002 Ray and Dottie Joyce Undergraduate Business Plan Competition at 6 p.m. in room 224 of the CU-Boulder Leeds School of Business. A 5:30 p.m. reception will precede the event in the business school lobby.
The competition offers students the opportunity to present a comprehensive business plan with an innovative concept for a product or service. The competition requires students to research all aspects of starting a business, from marketing to manufacturing and operations. It is the culminating event of a Leeds School of Business course called Business Plan Preparation.
"Finalists must present their plan in a convincing and compelling way, as if the judges were actual investors," said Frank Moyes, instructor of the course. "The competition is as close to a real-world environment as you can get."
The business plans will be judged by representatives from companies or organizations including Requisite Technology Inc., a Colorado-based provider of e-business applications and platforms, the Front Range Forum for Women Entrepreneurs, an organization that helps entrepreneurs gain access to venture capital, and the law firm Faegre & Benson.
First prize is $2,000 followed by $1,250, $1,000 and $750 for second, third and fourth places. Prize money was donated by the Ray and Dottie Joyce Business Plan Endowment. The Joyces are both CU-Boulder alumni.
The competition is hosted by the Robert H. and Beverly A. Deming Center for Entrepreneurship, a joint program of the Leeds School of Business and the College of Engineering and Applied Science at CU-Boulder. The center supports entrepreneurship studies at the graduate and undergraduate levels in a "connected learning" environment between students and Colorado businesses.