University of Tulsa teams sweep High Growth Divisions, OSU-OKC wins Small Business
Copyright © 2014, The Oklahoma Publishing Company
Concepts proposing an innovative putter for golfers, an alarm for parents of asthmatic children and a mammoth shooting sports range were recognized Thursday as top business plans presented in the 10th annual Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup competition for Oklahoma college students.
For the second consecutive year, a team from Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City won the Small Business Division, while University of Tulsa teams also swept first place in both High Growth Division categories for a second consecutive year.
The top three teams in the small business and high growth graduate and undergraduate divisions were revealed in a gala awards dinner at the Bricktown Events Center in Oklahoma City.
The Governor’s Cup requires student teams to identify a concept, research the market, write a business plan and present it before a panel of judges.
Winners emerged from two days of oral competition last week at the Oklahoma City offices of i2E Inc., which manages the event.
Team X-Pert Shot from OSU-OKC claimed $10,000 as small business division winner with a plan that proposed a large shooting sports complex and training center.
Winner in the high growth graduate division was AeroHead from the University of Tulsa, which wrote a business plan around an innovative putter and bladed cartridge, which is inserted into the head of the club to create spin on a golf ball for increased accuracy when putting.
In the high growth undergraduate division, Owlpal Healthcare from TU claimed first place with a technology for diagnosing and monitoring asthma in children at night. The High Growth division teams each won $20,000.
The top two teams in the high growth divisions advance to compete for more than $118,000 against teams from Arkansas and Nevada in the Tri-State Competition May 22-23 in Las Vegas.
Also recognized at the Awards dinner were three winners of $5,000 Oklahoma Business Roundtable Paulsen Award scholarships. The recipients were: Samantha Slater, Rogers State University; Michael Walser, University of Oklahoma; and MacKenzie Ward, University of Tulsa.
“Over the last decade, we have seen multiple successful entrepreneurs emerge from college campuses across the state, which shows that Oklahoma students have grasped the concepts needed to start a business and pitch the concept for investment dollars,” said Scott Meacham, i2E CEO.
The Governor’s Cup is underwritten by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation and more than two dozen local sponsors.
