Tufts Entrepreneurs Continue to Impress

Finalists in this year's annual Business Plan Competitions tackle big pharma, the energy crisis, poverty, and what to wear.

Medford/ Somerville, Mass. [04.14.08] This past Wednesday (April 9th), the competing finalists in Tufts' annual Classic Business Plan Competition and its sister contest, the Social Entrepreneurship Competition, once again impressed their peers and faculty with innovative proposals ranging from implementing clean energy alternatives to customizing footwear. More than one plan sought to relieve poverty abroad using the latest advances in cellular phone technology. These competitions, sponsored by Tufts' Entrepreneurial Leadership Program, consistently attract capable Tufts entrepreneurs from all stages of their academic careers. This year was no exception.

The success of this year's Classic competition's winners, Brigham Hyde and David Greenwald, was truly fueled by academic and professional expertise. Both PhD candidates at Tufts Sackler School of Biomedical Sciences, Hyde and Greenwald created Relay Technology Management, an Intellectual Property Brokerage Firm focused on facilitating licensure agreements between academic institutions and the pharma/biotech industry. The honor of first prize came with $14,000 cash and a $15,000 real-estate grant from Cummings Properties, a Massachusetts development and property management company founded by Tufts alum William S. Cummings.

Tufts undergraduate students also had an impressive showing in this year's competitions. Most notable was Chryssa Rask, CEO of China Mobile Banking Company, and the winner of this year's Tufts' Social Entrepreneurship Competition. Her company will provide mobile banking services (via smart phone) to rural-urban migrants in China. She aims to make crucial financial services accessible to unbanked Chinese, while simultaneously coordinating employment for impoverished Chinese women as licensed village phone operators.

Of her plan, Rask states: "Microfinance and "mobile banking" are hot topics right now, and doing work in the developing world is intriguing. Not only does this plan have enormous potential for positive social change, but also it has large potential to generate high revenues." Judges certainly seemed to agree: To facilitate her goal, Rask was awarded $12,500 in cash, consulting services from Deloitte (one of the competition's sponsors), as well as $25,000 grant from Cummings Properties.

The quality of the plans and professionalism with which they were presented impressed the numerous members of Tufts entrepreneurial community who turned out to see the event. On behalf of members of the Tufts Angels (a student organization, formerly Project Incubator), Robert Petti remarks: "This was the best Business Plan competition The Gordon Institute and Tufts have put on. If things keep progressing as they have been, I really see entrepreneurship becoming one of the pillars of Tufts." Rob's group gave each finalist the opportunity to practice their presentation and receive critiquing.

Interestingly, teams advocating for wind energy were among the top three prizewinners in each competition. As CEO of MicroWind Technologies, Inc., Classic competition second place winner Michael Easton aims to make wind-energy a reality for the residential and commercial mass markets through creative micro-turbine design. In the Social Entrepreneurship contest, Greg Hering, Jayson Uppal, Jared Rodriguez and Jesse Gossett won third prize for their company Emergent Energy Group; a wind energy consulting and development firm that designs, procures, and constructs community scale wind-farms.

Another trend among competition finalists was to focus on customizable fashions. Diego Villalobos and Wilber Renderos created a youth-led screen-printing enterprise, which won second place in the Social Entrepreneurship Competition. Their company PNM Designs combines the artistic and business talents of Latino Somerville youth to sell screen-printed fabrics to financially sustain leadership programming for teens in the community. Third place in the Classic competition went to Alice McMahon, Emily Griffith, Bretlyn Curtis and Issa Azat for FlipInfinity Sandals. In pursuit of "flexible fashion", this footwear company sells high-end leather sandals with interchangeable straps.

Honorable Mentions were awarded to teams in each competition whose business models utilized advances in cell-phone technology. Tweeber Inc., created by Parker Noren, Brian Nauheimer, and Chhean Sauur, integrates internet-based applications with cellular phones, providing a format for uploading free ring-tones. Their business model was inspired by social networking widgets such as virtual "gifts" found on Facebook. On the Social Entrepreneurship side, Hai Huynh, Michael Santorelli, and Matthew Hnatio created Digital Development Limited, which utilizes mobile phone technology to make business services accessible to impoverished citizens in Vietnam.

The panel of judges included James C. Foster, CEO of Charles River Labs and Advisory Board Chairman for Tufts' Entrepreneurial Leadership program; Gordon Institute Director Robert Hannemann; and Steven Zamierowski, director of Deloitte's Tech-Venture Center. Zamierowski is also affiliated with competition sponsor The Capital Network. Other sponsors included Skadden, and Website Pros, who contributed free legal and website-construct services to several of the winning teams.

According to Pamela Goldberg, director of the Tufts' Entrepreneurial Leadership Program, this event in its fourth year was better than ever. "The plans get more creative and innovative each year, coming from a more encompassing representation of the Tufts overall community," she said. " I am glad that I am not one of the judges with such talented participants in the competition."

With continued support of the Gordon Institute, as well as generous competition sponsors, we can expect great things from Tufts' growing community of entrepreneurs.

Profile written by Eve Delaney, Class of 2009