College of

Engineering, Architecture and Technology

 

Ted Sperry, Mohammad Rashed Islam and Emmanuel Yangue were all part of a team that took 2^nd place at this year’s Riata Business Plan competition - High Tech category.

 

More than 50 students representing 33 teams from across the Stillwater campus participated in the Riata Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship's annual Business Plan Competition from Nov. 8 - Jan. 27. The students were competing for over $40,000 in scholarships.

 

Ted Sperry and Mohammad Rashed Islam are Ph.D. students in the School of Chemical Engineering studying under Dr. Yu Feng.

 

Emmanuel Yangue is a Ph.D. student in the School of Industrial Engineering and Management studying under Dr. Chenang Liu.

 

The Riata Business Plan Competition is the premier business plan competition hosted by the Riata Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The competition is open to all OSU students of any discipline with or without business experience. The goal of the competition is to promote entrepreneurship and small business development by showcasing student created, managed and owned ventures.  Students are provided with expert feedback and the opportunity to win scholarship money to help fund their ventures.

 

The Riata Business Plan Competition is a multi-round student competition where individuals or teams present their ventures in the format of an Executive Summary and a traditional slideshow to a panel of judges. Finalists present their ventures in an elevator-pitch format to a live audience.

 

Participants enter their ventures into one of four competition tracks:

• Main Street Lifestyle Businesses should include products or services available for a larger market scope.
• Big City and High Tech Businesses should have an IP or technology component.
• Social Enterprises should implement solutions to social, cultural or environmental issues.
• Rising Entrepreneur includes teams who received scholarship money from a previous Riata Business Plan Competition, no matter their track.

Scholarship & Breakdown of Distribution

• 1st Place:  $4,000
• 2nd Place:  $3,000
• 3rd Place:  $2,000
• Remaining Finalists Teams:  $1,000
• Elevator Pitch:  $500

For more information on the Business Plan Competition, click here.