New Business Venture Competition Crowns New Winners

Above: Alysa Diebolt, first prize, sixty second elevator pitch and best trade fair presentation winner with her trade fair presentation. Click photo to view her business plan oral presentation in video format.

On Competition Day of the Second Annual New Business Venture Competition, five contestants presented their business plans to a panel of judges.  These five finalists had been selected from nearly two dozen submissions.  The first prize of $4,000 was won by Alysa Diebolt, a sophomore from Rock, Mich., majoring in marketing, for her business M@M (pronounced "madam") which designs, produces, and sells home decorating and furnishing products made from fusing glass. She also won the sixty second elevator pitch and her business display won the trade fair competition.  The second prize of $2,500 was won by Christina Brazinski, graduate student from Lisle, Ill., majoring in elementary education, for her proposal, Hand Struck, a venture to design and sell a line of handmade clothes for winter weather wear.  Brittney Alden, a senior from Lansing, Mich., majoring in entrepreneurship, won the third prize of $1,500, for her business idea "Cool Cakes" -- making and selling ice cream cakes.  The two other finalists were William Beacom, a freshman from Midland, Mich., who proposed an import business to distribute soft drinks from Scotland and Justin Carlson, a freshman from Ishpeming, Mich., who proposed a business to provide environmentally sensitive lawn care service.

Prizes for this year's competition were provided by Susan and Peter Reijula ('76), Ervin Kranberg ('71), Douglas Menzies ('81), and Northern Michigan Bank.  The organization of the event was supported through a grant from the Michigan Initiative for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

The judges for this year's competition were: Terrance Dehring, President-Quick Trophy, John Hust, CEO-Shelter Bay Tomato Co., Robert Jacquart, President-Jacquart Fabric Products, Robert Martin, Executive Vice President-Range Bank, and Eric St. Germain, President-Summit Capital Finance, LLC.  They reviewed the written business plans and scored the contestants on their trade fair display, sixty second elevator pitch, and oral presentation of their business ideas.

The New Business Venture Competition is designed to encourage entrepreneurial activism among students by recognizing and rewarding those who present detailed plans for designing and creating new business enterprises, drawing on their own ideas and inventions or those others.  The Competition is complement to the academic programs in entrepreneurship (hot link) offered at Northern Michigan University.

To learn more about the Competition, which is organized by the College of Business, visit www.nmu.edu/bizplancompetition.  Announcement for next year's competition will be posted here.

Second prize winner for her idea of "Hand Struck," Christina Brazinski with Dean Sanyal.	Third prize winner for her idea of "Cool Cakes," Brittney Alden with Dean Sanyal.
Competition finalists (L-R): Christina Brazinski, William Beacom, Brittney Alden, Justin Carlson     and Alysa Diebolt.	Competition judges (L-R): Robert Martin, Terry Dehring, Eric St. Germain, Robert Jacquart and John Hust.
Christina Brazinski with her trade fair presentation. Click photo to view her business plan oral presentation in video format.	Brittney Alden with her trade fair presentation. Click photo to view her business plan oral presentation in video format.
William Beacom with his trade fair presentation. Click photo to view his business plan oral presentation in video format.	Justin Carlson with his trade fair presentation. Click photo to view his business plan oral presentation in video format.