Walton College Students Take Five Governor's Cup Awards

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Graduate students in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas were rewarded for their Tears of Life business plan with the $20,000 first place award and the AT&T $5,000 Innovation Award in the 2009 Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup business plan competition.

The team that created the plan for Elevate Medical took the undergraduate $5,000 third place award and the Acxiom $5,000 Innovation Award.

A graduate team that proposed Ground Up Biosolutions won the Best Agriculture Related Business Plan Award.

 The winners were announced at a luncheon held April 28 at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock. The competition was managed by the Arkansas Economic Acceleration Foundation, an affiliate of the Arkansas Capital Corp. Group.

The Tears for Life team will travel to Las Vegas on May 26-28 to compete for an additional $25,000 and $15,000 with winners of Donald W. Reynolds business plan competitions in Oklahoma and Nevada.

Carol Reeves, a Walton College associate professor of management and holder of the Cecil and Gwen Cupp Applied Professorship in Entrepreneurship, was faculty adviser for the three winning teams. Because of her track record in previous Governor’s Cup and national business plan competitions, she was invited to speak at the event. She said there was great educational benefit to each student in having to build a detailed plan and present in front of judges who were real business people — even if the plan never becomes a real business.

Walton College Dean Dan Worrell said: “One of our primary objectives is to help students learn how to put classroom learning into practice in the real world. These Governor’s Cup wins reflect the amazing track record we’ve had this year at national business plan competitions. We congratulate Dr. Reeves for this record. We are also very proud of our students. While the rest of the country is seeing economic downturn, these enterprising young people are creating opportunity.”

The plan for Tears for Life was created in partnership with University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Bioventures. It is a medical diagnostic equipment company that is developing a non-invasive tear test kit that will screen women for breast cancer using proteins found in tears. The company will be the core of a profitable portfolio of non-invasive screening tools that will save lives and reduce health care costs.

Team members include managerial graduate students Chris Elizer, Jared Greer and Bessie Williams, and honors undergraduate marketing student Jordan Greer.

Jared Greer said, “We started with nothing and Dr. Reeves connected us with the people at Bioventures. We hope to make the business a reality when the technology is tested.”

Williams said, “Dr. Reeves taught us how to create a product strategy, the intricacies of a financial plan, and how to value our company. She gave us incredible support.”

Elevate Medical is a business that manufactures a wheelchair that converts to a stretch, alleviating much of the pain and risk that nursing staff members endure in lifting patients.

Team members include honors undergraduate accounting and finance students Jacob McConnell and Joe Willman and biological engineering undergraduate student Chris Nelson.

Ground Up Biosolutions is a business that minimizes the pollution of watersheds and creates a low-cost, environmentally friendly fertilizer from farms’ and municipalities’ byproducts. Team members include Brandon Barr, Joshua McCullough and Keith Solsvig, students pursuing managerial master’s degrees; and Cesar Coto, a doctoral student in poultry science also seeking a master’s degree in agribusiness.

Reeves said, “It is interesting to note that these three teams also did very well in several national business plan competitions.”

Tears for Life took first place in the University of Cincinnati Spirit of Enterprise MBA Business Plan Competition in March 2009; received an automatic bid to Global Moot Corp, the superbowl of business plan competitions to be held at the University of Texas on May 8-9; won first place in the Tulane University Business Plan Competition in April 2009; made the finals in the Wake Forest University Elevator Pitch Competition; and took first place in the Lightning Round at the University of Louisiana Business Plan Competition.

Elevate Medical won first place at the University of Nebraska New Ventures World Business Plan Competition in March 2009 and second place at the Colorado State University College of Business Venture Adventure in April.

Ground Up Biosolutions won the Wal-Mart Better Living Business Plan Competition in April, was a semifinalist at the Carnegie-Mellon University McGinnis Venture Competition, and took second place in the Lightning Round at University of Oregon New Venture Championship.

The Donald W. Reynolds Governor's Cup is a statewide undergraduate and graduate business plan competition designed to encourage students in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Nevada to act upon their ideas and talents in order to produce tomorrow's businesses. This competition is aimed at simulating the real-world process of entrepreneurs creating a business plan to soliciting start-up funds from potential investors. Students involved in this competition gain access to networks of successful entrepreneurs, lenders and investors, team-building opportunities, business planning skills, and media exposure.

Since the Arkansas competition's inception in 2001, more than 434 teams have participated. Winners of each competition are encouraged to start their profit-making ventures with substantial cash prizes and technical assistance.

The Arkansas Governor’s Cup business plan competition, now in its ninth year, is designed to encourage students of Arkansas universities and colleges to act upon their ideas and talents to produce tomorrow’s businesses. A total of $204,000 was awarded this year. Fifty-six student teams from 15 Arkansas colleges and universities entered the competition in February.

Danny Kennedy, president and chief executive officer of Riceland Foods Inc., moderated the event, and Richard A. Greubel Jr., group vice president and international president of Tyson Foods Inc., gave the keynote address. Gruebel is also a member of the Walton College Dean’s Executive Advisory Board.

Gruebel advised the students to find a job where they can learn about the whole business, maintain their integrity, build relationships at work like they would in their personal life, and take some risks.