UW-Green Bay’s New Venture Acceleration students lead the way in business idea contest
Teams reigned supreme in the Spring 2020 UW-Green Bay (virtual) Business Idea Pitch Contest, recently. A team of four Business Administration majors from the UWGB New Venture Acceleration studio accelerator class took first place in the Spring 2020 (virtual) Business Idea Contest. Their business idea, Caps Off (pictured), is a better way to recycle plastic by using a smart vending machine and a rewards system.
Each semester for the past three years, UW-Green Bay has held business idea pitch contests on its campuses. The contest is open to all UW-Green Bay students of all majors. Dental City provided the cash prizes for this spring’s contest. Every student earning one of the top four prizes was a Business Administration major.
First place—The Caps Off team of Business Administration majors, Molly Hurrish, Kody Kohke, Cory Gruendemann and Kayla Wendland, took home the first place $500 cash prize from Dental City.
Second place—Joe Doro, Sydney Gille and Brett Nimz, finished second and received $250. Their business idea, 3C, better Connects volunteers to Collaborate and Contribute with charities via an online avenue for completing specific social responsibility projects, community building projects and relationship creating projects.
Third place—Noah Redfearn, Emily Walczak, Brody Wiest and Maddie Yoss (Business Administration). Their business idea, Local2You, provides small business owners, inventors, crafters and artists a full-service way to get their products marketed and sold online from locally to globally.
Fourth place—and the winner of the People’s Choice Award from the cumulative votes of UW-Green Bay alumni entrepreneurs and UW-Green Bay employees—was the team of Jocie Georgeson, Valerie Ploeckelman, and Erin Reinke. They are the inventors of The Comeback CaneTM and earned $100 cash from Dental City. The Comeback CaneTM won’t fall to the ground when users drop it, preventing cane users from further injury as a result of having to pick up their canes.
Fifth place—and the winners of $50 from Dental City, was the team of Emily Barnes (Accounting), Lydia Delikat-Mitchell (Art) and Brianna Pritzl (Business Administration) with their business idea of SoapShop, a plastic-free high quality shampoo and conditioner retailer of high quality products in refillable aluminum bottles. The solution reduces single-use plastic.
For more information on UWGB’s entrepreneurship program (certificate for all majors, emphasis in the Business Administration major, contests open to all majors), please contact lecturer of entrepreneurship Ryan Kauth at KauthR@uwgb.edu or visit www.uwgb.edu/entrepreneurship.
In the photo from left to right: First-place prize winners, Molly Hurrish, Kody Kohke, Cory Gruendemann and Kayla Wendland.
