by Aubrey Montoya
Daily Lobo
Future UNM entrepreneurs have a chance to show off their business skills and win $25,000.
About 40 students gathered in the SUB on Monday to discuss a University Technology Business Plan competition sponsored by the Anderson Schools of Management. The competition is not limited to business students.
"This is a real opportunity for you to get into the process of engaging your colleagues, thinking about your own futures and doing something special for yourself," said Chuck Crespy, dean of the Anderson Schools of Management.
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Students are asked to create teams and pitch an innovative idea to a panel of judges.
The plan must be technology-based, and each team will prepare a 15-minute presentation to convince the judges - who will act as investors - to fund their project. First-place winners will receive $25,000, second-place winners will receive $10,000 and third-place winners will receive $5,000.
Business student Cody Westerhold was excited to come up with a business plan and to gain real life experience, he said.
UNM President Louis Caldera said students will gain essential skills in developing and pitching business ideas, as well as work with top entrepreneurs of New Mexico.
"The ability to be successful in the future is about more than just book learning," he said. "One of the big challenges that we have both in New Mexico and as a nation is, where is the next generation of entrepreneurs going to come from? How do you teach innovation?"
Students will meet every other Friday with mentors who are investors in the entrepreneurial world, as well as mentors from the UNM School of Law, the Anderson Schools of Management and technology departments.
Mentors will help students learn how to protect their ideas, how to calculate the costs of business, develop presentation skills and pitch their ideas to investors.
Though the projects must be technology-based, technology is broadly defined.
Sul Kassicieh, technology director of the Anderson Schools of Management, said technology could include a lot of things such as the medical field and electronics.
Crespy said the idea is not as important as the process of preparing the presentation in judging.
Kassicieh elaborated.
"The idea is finding out what is important to present to people, the presentation skills, standing in front of people and in 15 minutes making your case," he said.
Kassicieh said there was another goal of the competition.
"The second thing is helping people coordinate between the business side and the application side and really knowing that the world is not single-disciplined," Kassicieh said. "It's really interdisciplinary that different groups and different ideas contribute to success."
It is all about creating something from an idea, Kassicieh said.
Business student Seth Wilcox said he is excited about the opportunities the competition will bring.
"I feel like the whole process of writing the business plan is probably a very valuable skill," he said.
Wilcox said he is planning to collaborate with media arts student Jeremy Foote, but they didn't have a definite plan.
"The project that we have in mind is based in between both of our skill sets," Foote said. "I'll probably handle more of the creative aspects of the presentation, and Seth will probably handle more of the financial aspects and stuff like that."
