Business plan competition underway

02/06/2012 7:25 PM

The sixth annual Project Springboard Business Plan Competition is in full swing. Twenty teams submitted an executive summary for the first round of judging, and 14 teams successfully moved to round two.

These teams include Apptix, Bridal Grace, Café Cabby, Campus Fundraising, Chemtag, Dress to Impress for Less, Thefoodcents.com, IRV Power, The Lab, Liveable Tech, Proficient, Spread the World – Coffee & Tea, Swiatkowski Welch Real Estate and Vestano.

Dr. Stephen Kerr offered a January interim class, Business Financial Planning for Entrepreneurs, for Project Springboard contestants. The goal of the course was to help students develop new skills to present coherent small business plans; more specifically, to help Springboard teams convert their ideas into financial presentations that include financial research, budgeting models and financial projections.

The Foster College of Business plans to offer additional mentoring opportunities for Project Springboard contestants.

March 7 is the deadline for submitting business plans, and six finalists will be announced after Spring Break. Final presentations are scheduled for Monday, April 23, beginning at 10 a.m. in the Michel Student Center’s Marty Theatre.  An awards dinner to celebrate entrepreneurship on the Hilltop is scheduled that evening. The Project Springboard winner will be announced and all the finalists will be recognized for their efforts.

Thanks go to the following Project Springboard sponsors: Bradley University; The Foster College of Business Administration; The Turner Center for Entrepreneurship; Junction Ventures; Converse Marketing; Coyle Insurance; Clifton Gunderson; Elias, Meginnes, Riffel & Seghetti, Attorneys; and Ditch Witch Midwest, The Harbaugh Family.