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Past Winners
Kicking off mid-September and running through early May, the annual competition has recently concluded its eight year. What follows is a list of the winning teams from each year of the competition, along with snapshots of their businesses. 2007-2008In its eighth year, 320 students registered. Of
the 77 teams submitting concept papers, 41 passed to the second round,
including eight in the social venture track. The winners: Traditional Business Track:1st place ($10,000 cash award and $20,000 seed money) iSight Media Stephen Forte, Jason Nocco, Dmitriy Malinovskiy
iSight Media is a unique Internet based online advertising network
leveraging patentable technology to brand advertisers in various
consumer and financial services sectors.
2nd place ($5,000 cash award and $20,000 seed money) Mintfinder Michael Pancheri, Sebastyan Zaborowski, Stanislav Mamonov Mintfinder
is a marketing service that targets online retailers by providing
personalized product recommendations to web site shoppers.
3rd place ($2,500 cash award) The Bubble Hotel Leonid Ptokhov, Dovile Ivoskute Godwin
The Bubble Hotel is a hospitality venture that will develop
capsule-style hotels in big airports as low cost accommodation for
short stay travelers.
Honorable mention ($1,000 cash award) Snartle Petar Petrov, Noah Trugman Snartle.com is a web site where individuals can learn a foreign language through an innovative approach by reading online.
Social Entrepreneurship Track:
1st place ($10,000 cash award and $10,000 seed money) Blue Skies Project Melanie Lavelle, Jeong Bae, Deana Murtha The
Blue Skies Project will help lift families out of poverty by providing
them with easy access to free information regarding work support
benefits, thus cutting through the delays, red tape, and typical
difficulties encountered by people seeking such help.
Honorable mention ($1,000 cash award) The Healing Yoga Project Barbara Beatus, Sylvia Mlynarska The
Healing Yoga Project will improve the quality of life of individuals
suffering from physical illnesses and of those who care for them, by
providing low cost access to yoga, meditation, and mind/body wellness
programs.
| 2006-2007In its seventh year, 230 atudents registered for
the competition. Concepts were submitted by 51 teams; 33 were accepted,
including six in the new social venture pilot category. By May, nine
teams qualified for the finals. The winners: Traditional Business Track:1st place ($10,000 cash award and $35,000 seed money) Sports Connection Caitlin O'Halloran, Pritesh Damani Sports
Connection, now Winito, is an online portal for recreational sports and
amateur sports activity management. It has many of the features of a
community web site, but focuses on facilitating sports team
organization and providing team and player statistics to interested
parties. (www.winito.com)
2nd place ($5,000 cash award) Zippromotions Nehal Shah, Vaishali Shah
Zippromotions.com intends to be a local promotiona and discount search
web site with two unique features: using any computer or mobile device,
promotions and discounts can be searched for in and around a zip code;
money can be earned by sharing listing revenue.
3rd place ($2,500 cash award) L'Entent Ellorah Ghosh, Oshry Lev-Har, Pavan Mirpuri, Jach Wu
L'Entent will create a shirt brand for professional women, initialy
those working in New York City. Shirts will be high quality, custom
made, business attire.
Honorable mention ($1,000 cash prize) Delta Force Brenda Yagmin, Mary Chamberlain, Christine Walsh
Delta Force will operate a portal web site for small business leaders
that will provide articles, vendors, and networking contacts specific
to the needs and interests of each visitor, solving the universal
problem for businesses of how to get fast, simple, free solutions by
making sense of extensive Internet data.
Social Entrepreneurship Track:1st place ($5,000 cash award and $15,000 seed money The South Bronx Food Cooperative Zena Nelson, Ilene Bach, Yoonshin Kang
The South Bronx Food Cooperative is member-operated, emphasizing
healthy food and lifestyle habits., especially for low income
residents. In addition to food, the Coop offers nutrition seminars,
health classes and cooking classes to members and non-members. (www.sbxfc.org)
Honorable mention ($1,000 award) My Farmer Matthew Mills, Garret Akerson
My Farmer will provide a solution to both producer and consumer groups
via a centralized portal that will give farmers and distributors
customer tracking, accounting, supply/demand estimates, customer
feedback, e-marketing tools, logistics, a virtual farm stand, and
online payment processing.
| 2005-2006 In its sixth year 297
students registered for the competition. Concepts were submitted by 58
teams; 30 were accepted. By May, ten teams qualified for the finals.
The winners: - 1st place ($10,000 cash award and $25,000 seed money)
Lunchtable Media Delshon Chestnut, Neelam Desai, Hashim Warren Lunchtable
is launching a network of weblogs covering the news, culture, and
politics of African Americans and Hispanics. Writers will be hired and
advertising sold to firms targeting those demographic groups. - 2nd place ($5,000 cash award and $25,000 seed money)
Career Dish Sante Antonelli, Sandra O'Malley, Jeff Schacher Career
Dish is a focused on-line service for restaurants seeking employees and
persons seeking restaurant positions. Its many features simplify the
search for both those groups, providing more efficient and less costly
matching than is possible vie traditional employment agencies. - 3rd place ($2,500 cash award)
MoMentum Dinorah Delfin-Cardozo, Andrew Jozefiak, Michael Kozed-Perkins MoMentum
designs and markets special support garments for women during and after
pregnancy. These not only are revolutionary in function, but also in
style and form. - Honorable Mention ($1,000 cash award)
Simply Green Meryem Demitras, Esther Kuperman, Manny Ben Ohr Simply
Green will sell healthy snacks and light meals from kiosks in airports
and train stations, as an alternative to the high fat, poor nutrition
items typically found in those venues.
| 2004-2005In its fifth year, 285 students registered for the
competition, resulting in 78 concept papers. Of these, 31 were
accepted. Nine teams made it to the finals. The winners: - 1st place ($10,000 cash award and $50,000 seed money)
OnShore Partners
Mukunda Krishnaswamy, Adrian Gawdiak, Jim Mumm, Brian Power
OnShore
works with US firms seeking to decrease costs and improve operational
efficiency. Their services include evaluation of current business
processes, opportunity identification, vendor selection, and assistance
with contract negotiations. OnShore also provides clients with after
sales support to ensure that the service provider partnership delivers
desired business results. - 2nd place tie ($3,750 cash award to each team)
JaLe Design House
Jorge Miranda, Kunter Barlak, Lijo Joseph, Gale Lee
JaLe offers consumer- and custom-designed bedding for children via an interactive web site. Song Exchange Market
Omer Carmel, Boris Davidson
Song Exchange provides a web-based site for investment in up-and-coming musicians. - Honorable mention ($1,000 cash award)
Changing Hands
Monifa Watson, Baaba Halm, Koren L. Vaughan
Changing Hands is a specialy consignment shop for maternity clothing, baby clothing, and baby care items.
| 2003-2004 For the fourth year
of the competition, 215 students registered. Of the 67 teams submitting
concept papers, 25 passed to the second round. Ten of those teams
became finalists after the draft plan round. The winners: - 1st place ($10,000 cash award and $40,000 seed money)
TimeshareXchange
Yao Eric Huang, Tanuj Goel, Yujun Liu
TimeshareXchange
will provide an industry-leading web-based virtual exchange place that
facilitates rentals of timeshare properties. It will improve the
flexibility and manageability of timeshare ownership, promote liquidity
of timeshare properties, foster growth of the timeshare market and
bring value to the resort developers, timeshare owners, and general
travelers. - 2nd place ($5,000 cash award and $10,000 see money)
StarLinx
Natanel Kovari, Gabriel Eldor, Arie Waissman
StarLinx
will provide casting agencies with a unique and innovative digital
casting tool that gives agencies a fast, convenient, focused, safe and
reliable tool for electronic casting, and provides performers with an
inexpensive, simple, rapid means for submitting photo-video-audio
resume packages. StarLinx also will build an online community for
performers, where they can share information, have discussions and meet
fellow performers. - 3rd place ($2,500 cash award)
The Tea Bar
Andrea Bereck, Maya Haddad, Ruslan Mardonov
The
Tea Bar is a retail and food services business that will Americanize
the tea drinking culture, creating a lucrative market for their premium
tea products and specialty teas in a high style, comfortable, calming
environment where customers can enjoy a contemporary spin on the
authentic tea experience and also purchase high-end tea accessories and
loose teas in-store or through a website. - Honorable mention ($1,000 cash award)
MadreMia
Dinorah Delfin, Brett Ogin, Dionne Thompson
MadreMia
is a creator and manufacturer of specially designed maternity and
post-partum support garments engineered in keeping with the particular
needs of moms and moms to be, combining the support of all the devices
currently on the market into one comfortable garment, with smooth
contouring, yoked support, lace dcolletage, supple fabrication, and
luxurious fabrics.
| 2002-2003For the third year of the competition, 193
students registered. Of the 65 teams submitting concept papers, 39
passed to the second round. Ten of those teams became finalists after
the draft plan round. The winners: - 1st place ($10,000 cash award and $45,000 seed money)
 AutoEval
Jason Bass, Adam Ostaszewski
AutoEval
will offer used car buyers in the NY/NJ metropolitan area affordable
thorough impartial inspections and evaluations of potential vehicle
purchases. The company also will provide certifications of used
vehicles for dealers. Beginning with one site in a high-density auto
business zone in New Jersey, AutoEval will expand by opening sites in
additional similar locations and later by franchising.
- 2nd place ($5,000 cash award and $5,000 seed money)
Yummy Pockets - launched as Rico M. Panada
Ricardo Rezk, Marlena Brawer-Fass, Julia Miller, Moupiyasi Mukherjee
Rico
M. Panada, LLC launched in 2004. Operations began in September of that
year. Its products are now carried in more than 40 supermarkets and
health food stores in the New York metro area. Expansion plans,
including regional distribution, are under way. Located in
Bronx, New York, Rico M. Panada, LLC is a food-processing company
specializing in the production and marketing of baked empanadas –
five-inch-long, half-moon-shaped, hand-held pocket pies. Only
high-quality ingredients are used: organic whole wheat crust filled
with a variety of organic beef, chicken, cheeses, grains, legumes,
vegetables or any combination of these. They have no trans-fatty acids,
preservatives, or chemical flavorings. The empanadas are fully baked,
frozen, packaged, and distributed to retailers. The
company’s USDA- and FDA-approved plant operates under an established
HACCP plan for food safety. Rico M. Panada, LLC sells its baked
empanadas to supermarkets, health food stores, cafes, and caterers.
Near Baruch, their baked empanadas can be found in the freezer of
Natural Green Market (Third Ave & 16th St). Visit the company at www.ricompanada.com
- 3rd place ($2,500 cash award)
 Kognito Solutions, LLC
Ralph Vacca, Shiri Perciger-Cohen, Einav Rahimi
Kognito Solutions
applies the latest research in cognitive science and educational
psychology to develop superior e-learning platforms and interactive
content for use in corporate and academic environments.
Company principals:
Ralph Vacca Director of Research and Development, BBA in Entrepreneurship
Management ('03) Ron Goldman Director of Business Development, BBA in Marketiing Management
('02) Glenn L. Albright, PhD Direector of Academic Research - Honorable Mentions ($1,000 cash award each)
Acameta
Jarrett Bockler, Sundar Natarajan, Dan Ragsdale, Trond Valldal
Acameta
is developing software products to help view, track, organize, and save
web research by extending to the academic user the advantages of a
tailored and personalized meta-search tool with integrated information
management technology, spurring productivity. The product will be
equally at home in businesses that conduct significant research from
on-line data bases and other sources. Baroque Bridal
Henry Wong, Phines Aldecoa-Bracken, David Chen, Ashley Reynolds, Jiewen Xie
Baroque
Bridal is a full service studio-based specialty salon providing stylish
wedding gowns and accessories tailored specifically for plus-size
women. Also available are custom gowns by an in-house designer. Strong
emphasis is placed on matching style choices and designs to various
body types. Catalog and web support are provided as well. RentBid.com
Aaron Russell, Anna Duenas, Bryan Evans, Ziad Gemayel, Priyamvada Singhee
RentBid.com is a fully informative on-line auction system for New York City apartment
rentals,
benefiting both potential renters and landlords by considerably easing
the traditional apartment chase. Incorporated are open houses, on-line
listing and bidding, and broker services, all at one-third the typical
broker commission.
| 2001-2002 In the second year, 135 students registered and 43 teams submitted concept papers; 8 proceeded to the second round. The winners: - 1st place Two-way tie ($7,500 cash award to each team)
The Banana Islands
Michelle Bissette, David Chen, Gregory Francois, Amrith Jamoona, Henry Wong
Banana
Islands retails its own brand of high quality chocolate-based hot
beverages in a variety of complementary flavors, in addition to coffee
and tea, sold on campuses and in various city locations from kiosks. BookXchange.com
Kazi Islam, Kelsey Jack, Kwaku Senkyire, Hasan Sheikh, Mohammad Sheikh
BookXchange.com
provides a web-based application that students can use to buy, sell,
and exchange used texts, or to participate in text auctions. - 3rd place ($2,500 cash award)
Nicher Direct
Qui Huang, John Hui, Jiewen Xie
Nicher
Direct supplies businesses with design and implementation of plans for
direct marketing to ethnic Chinese, specializing in United States
business organizations that use direct mail campaigns targeted at
business and residential consumers.
| Over 120
students registered for the competition. Of the 45 teams submitting
concept papers, 11 proceeded to the second round. The winners: - 1st place ($5,000 cash award and $50,000 seed money)
Global IT
Rajat Beri, Kavita Beri, Sudeep Jose John, H.V. Krishnamurthy, Rakesh Kumar, Rameshwar Mahay, Neeraj Tiwari
Global
IT is an international job matching and placement service for
information technology professionals, focused on highly trained
professionals in India and businesses in the United States and England,
streamlining the process of finding and placing employees who meet
corporate needs. This group started their company and they are still in
business. - 2nd place ($2,500 cash award)
TravelTrak
Marc Benathen, Michele Scotto DiCesare, Dmitry Genzer
TravelTrak
provides a high-end instant access merchandise tracking and
contents-condition system and service for importers and exporters who
use containerized oceangoing shipping. Information gathered by
miniaturized electronics placed in the containers, using global
positioning satellites and environmental sensors, is beamed to
customers wirelessly. - 3rd place ($1,000 cash award)
MB2MB
Kevin Footman, John McBride, Vincent Miller, Aisha Norflett, Leon Sears
MB2MB
offers complete consulting, training, and advisement services for
minority businesses, providing special assistance for startups and
small businesses striving to succeed. In addition to help with business
planning and account management, they aid in acquiring business loans
and other forms of financing.
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