Young Entrepreneurs Unveil Business Plans
A dozen students in Westmont’s entrepreneur class present their start-up business plans to a panel of outside reviewers at the 20th annual Westmont Collegiate Entrepreneurship Business Plan Competition Thursday, Dec. 10, at 5:30 p.m. at Hieronymus Lounge in Kerrwood Hall. The event is free and open to the public. Networking and refreshments will begin at 5 p.m.
The competition, which includes ventures about pricing and securing future wine vintages, social networking for overseas student travelers, inner-city urban sustainable organic farming, and high-tech solar cookers for Third World households, is part of the Entrepreneurship and New Venture Development course at Westmont, taught by Dr. David Newton, professor of entrepreneurial finance, who founded the college’s entrepreneurship program in 1990.
Newton says in late August, eight student venture teams conceived their ideas, then researched and developed their innovative start-up companies over 14 weeks. “Each team had to meet a rigorous schedule of twice-weekly benchmarks, formulating all aspects of their product-service feasibility and long-term viability, as well as analyzing the market and competition,” Newton says.
The resulting final four student venture teams are: City Farm Center LLC, an inner-city organic farm and produce market with an emphasis on organic sustainability education; SOLutions Corporation, an inexpensive, innovative parabolic-design solar cooker for Third World home use; TripCurrent LLC, a real-time, online referral social-network for students travelling in Europe; and Wine Futures Research + Forecasting Inc., an online weather-info hub of leading wine regions worldwide for consumers to secure the best vintages.
The four-person panel of reviewers, which provides critique, analysis and dialogue with these aspiring entrepreneurs, includes: Eli Eisenberg of Straight-Line Management in Agoura Hills; Barry Fay, president of Santa Barbara-based Aqua-Flo; Susan Block, investment banker with Block-Bowman & Associates; and Jason Spievak, principal in Great Pacific Capital and founder-CEO of RingRevenue.
For more information, please contact Dr. Newton at Newton@westmont.edu or call Laura Wilson at (805) 565-6156.