Price College of Business continued to solidify its legacy of success at the i2E Love’s Entrepreneur’s Cup, a statewide collegiate business plan competition, with 31 students bringing home a combined 10 awards at this year’s event.
The college came away with second and third place awards in the undergraduate division and second place in the graduate division, as well as two team interview wins and two individual pitch wins. Three additional undergraduate teams received a monetary award for qualifying for the finals.
“Price College students continued the tradition of performing well at the Love’s Entrepreneur’s Cup Competition, which is a testament to the quality and work ethic of our students as well as the outstanding education they are receiving in our graduate and undergraduate academic programs,” said Bobby Lepak, director of the First Fidelity Bank IBC Program and lecturer of legal studies.
The Competition
Almost 40 teams of students from campuses across Oklahoma competed for $158,000 in cash prizes and scholarships.
The statewide competition requires college students to research a market, write a business plan and make a presentation to potential investors.
Price College competes in the High Growth Division, in which the business plan must involve a high-growth concept in one of five industry categories: health care; information technology/communications; manufacturing, material science and transportation; energy and environmental; or student-generated technology design.
The competition began in February when teams participated in an interview about their business with an industry expert. The next phase of the competition involved submitting a business plan for judging by a panel of investment, business and community leaders. Those judges’ scores combined with rankings from the interview round determined which teams qualified for the oral presentation round.
Price College’s Performance
This year, in the High Growth Division undergraduate category, seven of the eight teams that qualified for the semifinal round (first day of the oral competition) and five of the six finalist teams came from Price College.
Price has a successful history in the 18-year-old competition, winning more than 50 awards, including multiple first-place honors, in the past 12 years.
The competition involves a lot of teamwork beyond the students who participate. Lepak and Ron Bolen, assistant professor of entrepreneurship and executive director of Sooner Launch Pad, led the effort on the faculty side.
The college’s entrepreneurs-in-residence also played a key role, particularly to student teams coming from Lepak’s New Venture Development III class.
Graduate student winners came from OU’s MBA program.
Advisors for the winning and finalist teams included Bolen and Lepak, along with Kristin Garcia, state coordinator for Oklahoma of the Global Entrepreneurship Network, and Craig Shimasaki, senior entrepreneur in residence at Price College.
This year’s Price College award recipients are:
