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-- WITH PHOTO -- TO EDUCATION, AND NATIONAL EDITORS:
University of Miami School of Business Awards $65,000 in Annual
Business Plan Competition
EDITOR'S NOTE: Photos are available upon request.
CORAL GABLES, Fla., April 4, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- New
ventures including a mobile application for shopping, a data analytics
solution for hospitals to reduce heart failure readmissions, and art
deco chocolates that represent South Florida's cultural mecca have
taken top honors in the University of Miami's 2014 Business Plan
Competition, hosted by the university's School of Business
Administration. The competition winners, honored in an awards ceremony
April 4, took home a combined total of $65,000 in first, second, third
and other prizes.
Jake Elliot, Andrew Rodriguez and Nicholas Sando won the Grand Prize
and $10,000 in the undergraduate student category for SnagTag, an
application for your smartphone that enhances the retail shopping
experience by connecting retailers and consumers in a way never seen
before.
In the graduate student category, Matt Varghese, Cristina del Toro,
Sabrina Taldone, Joshua Cameron took home the Grand Prize and $10,000
for their venture, Valens, which provides a next generation data
analytic solutions that allows hospitals to maximize efficiency in
reducing heart failure readmissions while improving patients' lives
through better health care delivery systems.
And in the UM alumni category, Lucy Calamari won the Grand Prize and
$10,000 for Lucky Lucy's Chocolates, inspired by the colorful flavors
and cultures of South Florida. Her chocolates reflect retro and
colorful designs of the city's Art Deco movement.
"This year's young entrepreneurs came to the competition with an
extraordinary mix of great business ideas," said Isaias Sudit, CEO and
founder of TROVE and one of the Competition judges. "It is clear to
this panel of judges how these winners are ready to go beyond the idea
stage and truly execute. They will be exciting to watch and we are
happy to send them on their way with some funding."
Second Place in the undergraduate category and $5,000 went to Paola
Campodonico and Austin Zaslow for The Nest, a recovery center that
accommodates prenatal and postpartum women, and post-surgical patients
and offers 24/7 nannies, breastfeeding support, and other services in
order to make recovery faster and easier. Second Place in the graduate
category and $5,000 went to Joe Bucciero of AdMoney, a mobile phone
application that places ads on the background of smartphones or
tablet lockscreens in exchange for a monthly fee. Second Place in the
alumni category and $5,000 went to Alex Suma of Ibis Power, which
offers customized solutions for local renewable energy generation that
overcomes all downsides of current technologies. It is almost ready
to enter the U.S. and European markets.
Third Place in the undergraduate category with $2,500 went to Sultan
Saleh Alghamdi for Central Express Laundry, a full-service laundry
business in Saudi Arabia. Third Place and $2,500 in the graduate
category went to Rodolfo Hernandez for The Quiet American, a
sustainable men's luxury-yet-affordable clothing brand made of Alpaca
wool; while Third Place and $2,500 in the alumni category went to
Thien Van Tran for Leash, an electronic security company that provides
both hardware and software solutions to remedy the rise of smartphone
theft.
"The judges were blown away by the caliber of ideas presented by the
University of Miami entrepreneurs," said Susy Alvarez-Diaz, director
of entrepreneurship programs at the UM School of Business. "They have
no doubt we will be hearing more about these companies as we have
others that have grown out of our past competitions."
In addition to the undergraduate, graduate and alumni category prizes,
the Paul K. Sugrue Entrepreneurial Spirit Award and $2,500 was
presented to Sidonia Swarm of On Demand Dietician, a way to streamline
access to dieticians for corporate employees. Also, four Heffner
Internship Awards of $2,500 each were awarded to Maxim Bjelos, Alex
Cantwell, Joey Lopez, and Kenthia Farmer.
The Business Plan Competition started last fall when 42 concept papers
were submitted to the judging committee. Ultimately 16 semifinalists
were selected to present to the judges April 1-3, with the winners
named the following day. The judges included roughly one dozen
successful entrepreneurs and venture capitalists from South Florida
and Latin America.
Now in its 12th year, the Business Plan Competition is open to all
University of Miami students and alumni. Past winners in the
competition have gone on to build their ventures into businesses that
have garnered national attention. They include such companies as
College Hunks Hauling Junk and My Therapy Journal.com, both of which
have been featured on ABC Television's "Shark Tank," a reality program
in which entrepreneurs share their business ideas with a group of five
self-made millionaires in hopes of getting venture capital to help
them attain similar levels of success.
SOURCE University of Miami School of Business Administration
-0- 04/04/2014
/CONTACT: Tracy Simon, University of Miami School of Business Administration, 267-679-2774, tsimon@bus.miami.edu or tlsimonPR@gmail.com
/Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110906/DC62866LOGO
/Web Site: http://www.bus.miami.edu
CO: University of Miami School of Business Administration
ST: Florida
IN: EDU HED
SU: AWD
PRN
-- DC98813 --
0000 04/04/2014 18:56:00 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com
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