Developing a business plan was the objective of a new business competition created for VCU School of Business’ New Venture Initiation MGMT 436 capstone class. Partnering with the School to support the competition is the Association for Corporate Growth, a Richmond professional organization focused on developing corporate growth.

“For practical reasons, the importance of the business plan to the start-up entrepreneur cannot be overstated. It is essential, if a prospective entrepreneur is seeking to secure capital. It also aids in guiding the enterprise for the future,” said Matthew Rutherford, PhD.

Dr. Rutherford developed a curriculum that would include case presentations to be made during the semester by ACG guest speakers. Many offered first hand information based on their own experiences.

The focus of the “Association for Corporate Growth/Virginia Commonwealth University Business Plan Competition” was to teach soon-to-be graduated students the importance of developing such a plan. The instructors emphasized how many companies do not craft one, and as a result, often find themselves floundering and failing to obtain proper funding. Fifty junior and senior students participated in the competition, divided into 11 teams of four or five students.

The idea for this class came about through a partnership with ACG’s Richmond chapter, when Michael Paulette, its Vice President for College Programs, sat down with the School’s Dean Michael Sesnowitz, management professor Matthew Rutherford and Dr. Kenneth Blaisdell, Associate Dean and Director of the Foundation for the School of Business. “ACG wanted to develop a program that would play an important part in an Entrepreneur course, yet generate some competitive excitement,” said Dr. Rutherford. “Business plan competitions are fairly common in creating challenges within a business program.” ACG has committed $30,000 to a three-year series of business programs, with $5,000 going to this initial competition.

Nine of ACG’s directors and partners made presentations to the class or served as judges, including its President and CEO Kenneth J. Newell. ACG is a leading authority on corporate growth which promotes the professional interests of its members through quality programs and education. Its members are actively involved in corporate growth, corporate development, mergers and acquisitions. It actively focuses strongly on educational programs that assist qualified students who are pursuing business subjects.

“The process of writing a business plan permits the students to draw from their previous coursework and experiences to craft a coherent and detailed document, describing the viability of a given enterprise,“ said Dr. Blaisdell.

RamZ Ride was the winner of the first annual competition receiving a $500 award. The winning team proposed establishing a student transit company to provide transportation between the VCU campus and downtown Richmond restaurants and entertainment centers. The team members are: Jessica Purshock, Ashley Wright, Mark Holt, Ricky Patel, and Jay Stephens. The runners up and winners of a $250 award were the creators of Vinyl Destination (Kimberly Harris, Davin Allen, Michael Thomason and Neema Akbarzadeh), a record shop, music venue, and recording studio combination.

Other teams receiving recognition were Pesheya (retail African Arts), Cumberland Partners (logistics consulting), and Phreedom Designz (specialized clothing).

Ten judges, representing private investor and venture capitalist firms, chose the winning teams based on their written business plan and oral presentations that included: the idea and market opportunity, competitive advantage, description of the products and services, project financial statements, and a management plan.

“I think our group was favorably impressed at the response from the students,” said Paulette. They appeared to get a lot out of the competition. We look forward to continuing this successful partnership.”

“The enthusiasm of the participants has assured that this competition will be held again in 2008 as part of the New Venture Initiation class,” said Dr. Rutherford.

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