The Avenue group preparing for competition (top) and enjoying their victory (left). The seven alumni judges (right) who helped structure the College of Business contest, mentor the groups and put up the prize money.

Competing for business

Alumni entrepreneurs motivate students with contest

Story by Donna Ragsdale Dunn ('94)

AFTER MONTHS OF RESEARCH, benchmarks and financials, the lights dim, the music comes up and four young women try to sell seven successful JMU grads on The Avenue, an evening gown rental boutique.

The judges encircle the team and their models, who wear purple and periwinkle tea-length dresses, and ask tough questions about their growth potential and whether women would, in fact, be willing to rent a wedding dress. In the end, one of the judges invites the women to come with him on his next sales pitch.

The Avenue team won the first-ever Business Plan Competition held by the College of Business in March. The competition began with plans from more than 150 groups from CoB 300 classes and ended with $12,000 in prize money given away.

"I've never worked for anything this hard in my life," says Kate Maggi, hugging her teammates after their dynamic presentation and victory.

A three-hour competition offered the five finalist teams the opportunity to present their plans to a prestigious panel of JMU business graduates and to an audience of fellow students, parents and instructors. The competition was the first step in the college's plan to obtain enough funding to endow scholarships and make the competition an annual event.

"The main thing for students is for them to realize that an entrepreneurial career is possible," says Don Rainey ('82), a venture capitalist for Intersouth Partners, who served as head judge. Before Intersouth, Rainey was president of Attitude Network, one of the first entertainment networks on the Internet, which was sold in 1999 for $49 million.

Seven alumni judges helped shape the competition, gave advice to students and even donated part of the scholarship money. Judges included Rainey; Steve Boehm ('78), executive vice president of Wachovia Direct Access; Dan Carayiannis ('78), vice president for sales at Intellitactics; Eric Major ('91), co-founder and CEO of American OsteoMedix Corporation; Rich Masterson ('82), CEO and chairman of Masterson Development; John Rothen-berger ('88), founder and president of Stra-tegic Enterprise Solutions Inc.; and Mike Thomas ('76), vice president of the imagery and geospatial solutions line of business within Lockheed Martin Management and Data Systems.

"For me, it was an opportunity to give back," says Carayiannis. "It is amazing to see how talented some of these kids are. I know some company executives who couldn't do what these kids have done."

The competition began in the fall, when students who had taken CoB 300 - the innovative business class that combines four disciplines into one 12-hour course - were invited to submit the plans they developed in 2002. CoB faculty members chose 14 teams to compete in a preliminary competition. From those, five were selected to give 20-minute presentations before the panel of judges.

"The process really gives [these students] the chance to see what it takes to start a business," says Major. "It's giving them the larger perspective of what business is really all about."

Senior accounting major Jennifer Wange, whose group The Avenue won first place for its proposal to open a rental evening gown store in Lexington, Ky., agrees. "It's so exciting just to look at the whole picture [of a new business]. "There's such pride in this work."

Judges praised The Avenue team - Maggi, Wange, Sarah Anderson, Leah Batten and Elizabeth Lewis - for their research and enthusiasm. "We could have given that same speech with half the passion, and we wouldn't get that response," says Wange, one of two MVPs in the competition. Senior Jarrett Gold of the Mech Tech team presentation was given the other MVP honor.

All team scholarships - ranging from $3,500 for first place to $250 for fifth place - were divided among team members. Each MVP received $1,500. The lesson for students in the competition was that they could use their passion and intellect to make entrepreneurial dreams a reality, Rainey says.

"Don't be afraid to pursue your business dreams," Rothenberger adds. "Without that initiative and pursuit you don't have new business."

The judges commended all the students for their hard work and encouraged them to take their talents into the "real" business world.

"If you have a vision and a passion," Boehm says, "you can do something great. Don't let the naysayers talk you out of it."