'Fruitful Oasis' pitch wins top prize at Business Plan Competition

Eight Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø students walked away with honors and prize money from Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø¡¯s eighth annual Business Plan Competition on Feb. 24.

Phuong Lu '24, a business administration-marketing major, was awarded $4,500 for her first-place project, ¡°Fruitful Oasis,¡± a pitch for an upscale fruit gift business that would bring a new level of experience to customers.

¡°It's my honor to have had the opportunity to present my vision of bringing high-quality fruits to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and contributing to the local community's health and well-being,¡± Lu said.

Doug Tschopp, director of Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø¡¯s EDGE Center, said all five plans that made the pitch competition were selected from a large group of outstanding plans.

¡°The pitches were excellent,¡± he said. ¡°Students always tell me they learn a lot when they do the research and write a full business plan. Even if they never own a business in the future, they develop a better understanding of what makes a business function.¡±

The competition is funded by the Å·ÖÞ±­ÍøͶ_Å·ÖÞ±­ÍâΧapp-Ͷע¹ÙÍø Creative Enterprise Fund, which has been supported by a donor.

 Individuals and teams submitted business plans on Jan. 16, and the best five plans were invited to the competition. This year¡¯s judges were Kristoffer Kizer ¡¯18 and Laura Keenan ¡¯22.

Beamlak Abdisa '25, a computer science and data science double major, took second place and the $3,000 prize for her project Ethnobox.

Third place and $1,500 was awarded to the team of Max Mees '25, a business administration-marketing major, and Kyle Campbell '24, a business administration-management and accounting double major, for their project, ¡°PIMMS.¡±

Honorable mentions, each receiving $500, went to: 

• Ilyas Jamil '24, a computer science major, and Elnatan Tesfa '24, a computer science and data science double major, for their project Roommixer, a project aimed at solving the problem of matching first-year college roommates through an advanced app and matching algorithm.
• Nico Navarro '25, an international business and business analytics double major, and Tim Philip '25, a business administration-business intelligence, business administration-marketing and computer science triple major, for their project PeerDeal, a project focused on helping students buy and sell merchandise and services across their campus.