Matt Peters
map006@marietta.edu
Drawing on the popularity of the MC’s PioPitch sessions, the Business & Economics Department and the McDonough Center have teamed up to introduce the “PioBiz” Business Plan Competition. In this contest, teams of students will compete to turn their business ideas into a reality. The winning team will draw up to $10,000 from an entrepreneurship incubator fund supported by a grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation. Teams may consist of either one or two people, but one member of each team must be a full-time student of junior standing.
“It’s going to be a partnership where, after your junior year, you will spend your senior year developing the implementation part,” explained Dr. Gamma Perucci, dean of the McDonough Center.
Competing students will attend a series of workshops over the next two months that will help them develop their business strategies. The first is entitled “The Mindset of an Entrepreneur” and the second, “The Nuts & Bolts of Putting a Business Plan Together.” Students will then have until Jan. 18 to submit their completed business plans.
On Feb. 8, the top five business plans will be announced. Those five teams will present their business plans first during a practice round (PioPitch session) on February 25, and again to a panel of judges on April 1. The practice round will allow teams to receive feedback from faculty and fellow students before their final presentations at the McDonough Leadership Conference.
Perucci says the final round panel of judges will be made up of local business leaders.
“Think of venture capitalists who come in and say, ‘Okay, impress me,’” he said.
Dr. Jacqueline Khorassani, chair of Business & Economics, will be leading the first workshop.
“Money is wonderful, but what you get – that a lot of people don’t get – is a lot of support from [faculty, staff, and business experts]… and these are things that are not necessarily available to you after you graduate,” Khorassani said.
“So, that’s why we’re doing it your junior year and not necessarily your senior year, because once you go, it’s going to be very hard to receive that support,” she added. “Our goal is for you to succeed.”
Khorassani and Perucci said they hope the competition will also create jobs in the community, and that is why local businesses leaders have been so supportive of the idea.
Many are hopeful that the energy, creativity, and entrepreneurial enthusiasm of MC students will usher in new opportunities for economic growth.
