FedEx Institute Business Plan Competition Launches: $20,000 Grand Prize
Contacts for Media:
Eric Mathews, Organizer and Communications Lead
901-678-5105
The FedEx Institute of Technology Business Plan Competition, designed to encourage students and researchers in the community to produce top business firms, launched its initial activities today with over $30,000 in prize money up for grabs.
The Competition pairs regional business, engineering and science thinkers together with students to explore the development of new companies. The ultimate outcome is to help the region learn about entrepreneurship and start successful companies. The competition is comprised of both workshops on various business and business plan topics. It is hoped that applicants will form teams that share a common interest and acquire the skills, contacts or insight to help grow real businesses.
The rich history of business plan competitions goes back over 15 years at such universities as MIT and Rice. For example, the 50K Challenge at MIT has produced companies with collective market capitalization in the billions of dollars. Building off this history and the entrepreneurial success stories from the Mid-South, the FedEx Institute with this competition is again stepping outside the walls of the University confirming its role as a regional economic development partner.
The FedEx Institute encourages any team with at least one full or part-time student and a business strategy for a marketable product or service to enter the competition. There are no geographic or other restrictions. Since the FedEx Institute is a center of technological innovation, many entries are likely to contain breakthrough technologies, but other entries that are innovative are welcome.
Entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, professors, and other professionals involved in entrepreneurship in the Mid-South will evaluate the contestants on their business plans and executive summaries. Plans will be evaluated on their market potential and the team's ability to successfully execute their business plan.
On April 1st, 2006 one team will walk away with the $20,000 Grand Prize, but the most important aspect of
the FedEx Institute Business Plan Competition is that teams are provided with
the education, tools, feedback, and contacts they need to be successful in the
early stages of their companies' growth. That’s good for the regional economy.
A full schedule of workshops, rules and regulations, and competition deadlines may be found at http://fedex.memphis.edu/BizPlan/.
The FedEx Institute of Technology at the University of Memphis is the South’s cross-cutting research laboratory system where Fortune 500 companies among many others are pooling people, technical resources, and research dollars to solve modern-day challenges with interdisciplinary research teams. For more information visit www.fedex.memphis.edu.