University student teams excel in statewide business plan contest

Two teams from the School of Business captured first place in a recent statewide business plan competition that lets students apply their entrepreneurial skills to create and launch new businesses in Connecticut.

And two more were finalists in the contest. Two of the teams were awarded start-up grants.

The competition was sponsored by the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development in partnership with the Connecticut Venture Group (CVG) – a non-profit group of venture capitalists that seeks to connect members with high-growth emerging companies.

Eighteen teams, including those from UConn, were selected as finalists out of more than 100 entries from eight colleges and universities in the state.

Each of the finalists gave a four-minute presentation that was evaluated based on criteria including definition of the proposed business product/service, definition of the market, competitive advantage, financing structure, and funding source.

There were four categories in the competition: undergraduate personal business, undergraduate venture enterprise, graduate personal business, and graduate venture enterprise.

UConn teams won first place in the two graduate business plan categories.

MBA students Kevin Prechtl and Owen Opena won the graduate new venture enterprise category with their plan for “Optimal Software Solutions,” which would offer businesses automated scheduling and communication service for temporary staffing.

Both Prechtl and Opena, who have taken the business school’s new courses in venture consulting and were among the first group of students to intern at UConn’s Innovation Accelerator, captured the Connecticut Innovations Technology Award of $10,000, as well as the grand prize start-up grant of $25,000.

In the personal business graduate-level category, Margaret Feeney edged out another competitor with her plan for “ETG Hardware”, a proposal to create hardware outlets selling environmentally friendly products.