Students win thousands in scholarship monies through Riata Business Plan Competition
Wednesday, February 22, 2023
Media Contact: Bailey Stacy | Communications Coordinator, Marketing & Communications | 405-744-2700 | bailey.stacy@okstate.edu
The Oklahoma State University Riata Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship have named the winners of the 2023 student competition to create business plans for innovative startups.
The Riata Business Plan Competition at the Spears School of Business promotes entrepreneurship and small business development by focusing on student-created, -managed and -owned ventures. This year students were awarded $40,000 in scholarship monies.
This year’s competition, which was open to any current OSU student regardless of discipline, attracted 25 business plan entries submitted by individuals and teams in four categories:
- Main Street Lifestyle businesses with products or services for a larger market.
- Big City/High Tech businesses with an intellectual property or technology component.
- Social Enterprise ventures that offer solutions to social, cultural or environmental issues.
- Rising Entrepreneur
Student entrepreneurs where required to produce a 10-page written business plan and present it as a slideshow to a panel of judges in the finals.
“This year’s Business Plan Competition did not disappoint,” said Chad Mills, outreach program director for the Riata Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. “The top 15 business teams went head-to-head in a live presentation of their 10-page business plan. The Riata Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship along with the Spears School of Business would like to congratulate this year’s winners on a job well done.”
Winners and business name:
Main Street Lifestyle
1st – Rafiu Ali, TutorSAAB ($4,000 scholarship)
2nd – Alison Conway, Castoff’s Creatives ($3,000 scholarship)
3rd – Marian Gutierrez, The 405 ($2,000 scholarship)
Big City/High Tech
1st – Pherolize Alicia Young, Viswanath Nukala, Lauren Hara, Pherolize ($4,000 scholarship)
2nd –, Elo Enwa, Loqui Ai ($3,000 scholarship)
3rd – Joel Quarnstrom, Carson Taylor, Tristen MCCarter, SmartCaps ($2,000 scholarship)
Social Enterprise
1st – Dania Crivelli & Jazmin Lopez, Piensa Consulting (S4,000 scholarship)
2nd – Sneha Dharwadkar, Fish for a Cause ($3,000 scholarship)
Rising Entrepreneur
1st – Kyla Ellis, Events Unboxed ($4,000 scholarship)
2nd – Kevin Heupel, BioSeal XE ($3,000 scholarship)
3rd –Alejandro Montiel, Miggo Mundo ($2,000 scholarship)
Remaining Finalist
Habib Boloorchi, Retinator, ($1,000 scholarship)
David Berman, Seeds N’ Weeds, ($1,000 scholarship)
Hayden King, Shots N’ Shots ($1,000 scholarship)
Elisa Schulzda Costa Mazzo, Saad Mohiuddin, Neo Kalungu- Banda, Ummahani Akter, Homodoro ($1,000 scholarship)
Alison Conway, Castoff’s Creatives, was the winner of the $3,000 Richard L. Tourtellotte Family Scholarship awarded to encourage business creation in Oklahoma and academic study of how governments and the private sector can work together to grow local economies and create jobs.
To learn more about the Riata Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Spears School of Business visit the website.