Listen Here
By Monica Crawford
crawfordm3@findlay.edu
On April 14, six University of Findlay students will compete in the College of Business’s annual Innovation Competition at Winebrenner Theological Seminary at 6 p.m. Two divisions will run: Division #1 – Innovative Business Idea and Division #2 – Student in Business.
The top 3 presentations in each division will receive financial awards, which include $2000 for first place, $1500 for second place, and $1000 for third place for Division #1 and $5000 for first place, $2500 for second place, and $1500 for third place for Division #2.
Any university student can enter the competition, and guidance and support are accessible throughout the brainstorming process.
“Once a student decides that they want to be in the process to be considered for the competition, all they need to do is enter,” said Dr. Carla Treadway, assistant professor of teaching in the College of Business. “I provide workshops that work on marketing, finance, and reviewing the business plan so they feel like it’s ready.”
However, before the Innovation Competition, only a handful of students are invited and are required to submit their work by March 20 for preliminary scoring, which consists of a rubric that requires an excellent business concept/executive summary, mission and vision statement, originality, market analysis, financial projections, marketing and sales strategy, feasibility, and competitive analysis.
UF student Amari Felder was one of the participants who secured a spot in Division #1 with his autobody customization car shop idea.
“The innovation competition will help me express how excited I am to be able to present my idea and compete with other students,” said Felder by email.
UF student Stephen Cain was another participant who secured a spot in Division #2 with his unique window cleaning service that combines traditional and modern methods into one system idea.
“The idea came from doing door-to-door sales and seeing that most services were either rushed or incomplete. I wanted to create something higher quality that also has a bigger purpose behind it, with a long-term goal of helping fund clean water wells in Africa,” said Cain by email. “The Innovation Competition means a lot because it gives me a chance to share what I’ve been building and connect with other people who are trying to create something real as well.”
Students’ feedback on the opportunity to participate in the Innovation Competition provides insight into the impacts the College of Business aims to achieve.
“Number one, I hope it helps bring the students to be innovative and want to share their ideas, as far as being excited about being innovative and having an entrepreneurial mindset,” said Treadway. “Second, we want to bring awareness that we have the Bright Center, where any student can come and get help starting a business from any stage in the process.”
“Third, we want students to become that leader, understanding that we have high-level instructors who teach entrepreneurship that prepare students for the real world,” said Treadway. “Fourth, we want to support those students who are in business and make them aware that we have resources that are here to support them and not just teach them theory.”
