By Caleb Youngblood, Public Relations Coordinator
March 2, 2023
On Tuesday, February 28, 2023, MSMS hosted the sixth annual Business Plan Competition sponsored by Lee-Way Financial.
Five teams competed for the top three spots by presenting their business ideas to three judges. These judges consist of local businesspeople who have proven to be successful in various ventures. This year’s judges were Hagan Walker, Jan Miller, and Macaulay Whitaker.
For this competition, juniors and seniors at MSMS team up to design a business plan that can successfully address a growing concern in the world. Although each group is given a template to help guide them along the way, they ultimately determine all aspects of their business, including marketing plans, financing plans, business management plans and cost management strategies.
Submissions for their plans took place in early November and were reviewed by representatives from the Mississippi State University Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach. Out of the ten teams that submitted their work, the representatives chose the top five to advance to the final competition on February 28. The top five teams were given the opportunity to meet with mentors and revise their business plans before pitching the idea to our judges.
This year’s prizes amounted to a total of $5,500. First place received $3000, followed by second place with $1,500, third place with $500. The last two teams received $250 each.
The awards were given to the following teams:
1st Place: xViro – John D. Hagood and Richard Zheng
2nd Place: SIEVE – Sephora Poteau, Mandy Sun, Everett Mason Jr., and Chauncy Jordan II
3rd Place: Mint Technologies – Sydney Beane and Iris Xue
Premier Cricket Food Group – George Utz and Nicolas Neal
FabFlex 3D – Maple Griffin, Ashton Lollis, and Julia Nguyen
To encourage students to develop business solutions to combat some of the issues facing Mississippi, the MSMS Entrepreneurship Program was established during the fall semester of 2015. Because of this program, students can now learn more about entrepreneurship in their economics course, attend a local entrepreneur speaker series and participate in the yearly Business Plan Competition.