Student business start-ups sweep Venture Challenge
STARKVILLE, Miss.--When the Mississippi Technology Alliance recently hosted the business competition New Venture Challenge 2011, the top teams in the student division all had one thing in common--leadership by Mississippi State University student entrepreneurs.
In the challenge, participants competed for kudos from judges--and cash investments to help establish their new companies. Tasha Bibb, MTA's entrepreneurial development manager and program director for New Venture Challenge, said MSU student teams swept others in their division.
The annual competition evaluates business plans in marketing, finance, management, and products or technology to help aspiring entrepreneurs launch companies with obvious potential for success.
Senior William R.E. "Robbie" Spears of Meridian won first place and a $3,000 award for his company, The Juliet Collective. An MSU interdisciplinary studies major, Spears is founder and CEO of the company, which produces artfully crafted musical electronics, such as guitar pedals and amplifiers.
Spears said he always loved music and electronics, but never focused on business until he began working with MSU's Entrepreneurship Center, through which his longtime passion began to transform from a hobby to a serious business venture.
He said winning the New Venture Challenge has caused his company's employees to "put their shoulders to the wall" in preparation for the National Association of Music Merchandisers trade show, an industry event he hopes will spur the business to the next level of success.
Innometrix, a biomedical device company, won second place with the design GynMech, which creates a diagnostic data set to provide a structural analysis of the female pelvic floor. Company leaders are Benjamin Weed, an MSU biomedical engineering doctoral student, and Ali Borazjani, who earned an MSU bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering in May.
To begin their company, the two students combined efforts with a vision of helping women by predicting the onset of pelvic organ prolapse, a medical condition with symptoms such as incontinence. Weed and Borazjani also are collaborating to begin a separate non-profit organization to help provide medical supplies to South African hospitals and medical clinics. Innometrix will utilize the $2,000 cash prize for further development and testing of their medical device.
Neimaj, LLC, a company which designs and manufactures eco-friendly footwear, earned the third place award. Jamien A. Sills of Starkville, an MSU graduate student pursuing a master's of business administration degree, founded Neimaj to offer a new line of work shoes that Sills says are safer, more comfortable, and more stylish than those offered by competitors. His company's $1,000 cash prize will help manufacture a run of shoes for market validation purposes.
Entrepreneurship Development Programmes - News
Since the beginning of the year, the National Fund of Assistance to Entrepreneurship has issued preferential loans worth AZN 80m ($101.2m). According to sources in the Ministry of Economic Development of Azerbaijan, loans to implementation of different
"This year we celebrate the eight years of the Kgalagadi Beverages Trust (KBT) Entrepreneurship Development Programme, KBT KickStart. We celebrate eight years of establishing and growing small businesses owned by Batswana youth.
Tasha Bibb, MTA's entrepreneurial development manager and program director for New Venture Challenge, said MSU student teams swept others in their division. The annual competition evaluates business plans in marketing, finance, management, and products
South Africa and the UK would place strong emphasis on entrepreneurial development as the two countries aim to get more people off welfare and into paying jobs, top government officials said in Johannesburg on Monday. South Africa and the UK would
FRANCISTOWN: ABM University College recruited its former students to a 5-day entrepreneurship development programme that began on Thursday last week. The workshop is a training programme to upgrade entrepreneurship skills, especially for the 99 young
Techical Adviser Vacancy:Nigerian Youth Entrepreneurship Development
Responsible To: Permanent Secretary, Nigeria Federal Ministry of Youth Development
1. Background
The Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has requested for technical support from the Commonwealth Secretariat in the strengthening of the Nigerian Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme (NYEDP). The main goal of the programme is to expand youth employment creation through youth entrepreneurship, micro-credit, agro-allied and vocational
The NYEDP is designed as an intervention strategy to provide opportunities for youth to gain experience and enhance their capacities in three major areas which have been identified as forces that limit the potential of Nigerian youth in the labour market. These include; lack of adequate skills, lack of requisite experience and lack of access to finance for youth entrepreneurs. The programme has been designed with three components, namely; Skills Acquisition Training, Apprenticeship Programme and Micro-Credit segment. Youth who participate in all levels of the programme would be better prepared to face the challenges of the job market because they would be equipped with skills and experience and will have the option of available finance for self employment.
The government has further identified the Commonwealth Youth Credit Initiative (CYCI) model as a framework worth replicating and adapting for this programme. The CYCI model was developed by the Secretariat’s Youth Affairs Division in conjunction with host governments to address issues of youth unemployment and poverty. The model emphasises a collaborative arrangement among key stakeholders.
It comprises of a tripartite arrangement involving the Government, an implementing partner institution and the Commonwealth Secretariat to create an integrated framework for youth employment through enterprise creation, training and capacity building for the youth and other key stakeholders with the aim of creating and expanding income generating activities and creating youth employment. The overall objective of CYCI is to promote youth employment and alleviate poverty among the young people of the host country.
This component is designed to provide youth with the opportunity to acquire skills that will generate employment and reduce poverty. Training will focus on vocational and agro-allied skills. All trainees will receive entrepreneurship training as part of this component. Training will be conducted in six pilot youth development centres in the country, for at least 3-6 months duration. By the year 2013, 10,000 youth would have been provided with vocational, agro-allied and entrepreneurship skills.
Entrepreneurship Development Programmes - Bookshelf
Entrepreneurship development programmes, proceedings of a seminar organised by Industrial Development Bank of India
Evaluation of entrepreneurship development programmes
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