Young High Schoolers win $25K prize in the Business Plan Competition

Young High Schoolers win $25K prize in the Business Plan Competition

June 24, 2011

In its second year, the TYE (TiE Young Entrepreneurs) Global competition was hosted by TiE Carolinas at Research Triangle Park, Cisco in North Carolinas. TYE is a TiE Global initiative where a business course curriculum is taught in several TiE Chapters around the world, culminates in an international business competition for young high school students.

This year, the TYE global competition, which involved 140 teens from nine cities in the United States, India and the United Kingdom (Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Raleigh, Seattle, San Diego, London, Delhi and Jaipur), was held on April 30, 2011 at Cisco Systems in Research Triangle Park. This year’s TYE Global competition was sponsored by Wachovia, Cisco Systems, the Kauffman Foundation and NCSU’s Entrepreneur Initiative.

Participating teens devoted their weekends for six months to learn about entrepreneurship, business models, finance, marketing, law, leadership, and presentation skills. Winning regional teams from Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Seattle and San Diego, and Delhi traveled to Carolinas to present their business plans in person. London and Rajasthan teams were able to present via Cisco TelePresence. Team coaches, chapter managers and volunteers cheered on their teams from their remote locations.

Geetha Ramamurthy, founder and chairperson of the TYE Global Program explains the vision behind the TYE saying, “TYE’s bigger cause is Social Development. We are committed to create and nurture future generation of entrepreneurs or leaders and make positive contribution to not only building a strong network of youth within the TiE organization but also serve its communities and the business ecosystems”

“Pitching a business idea to an investor is one of the hardest forms of communication,” commented Sidd Chopra, founder of Speed Speak, who emceed the global awards ceremony and was one of the instructors for the TiE Carolina team. Chopra added “These kids could have walked into any boardroom in any company in the world and impressed them. While only some of the pitches won awards, there were no losers. All participants now know how to turn an idea into business. They are going to be the innovators of tomorrow.”

TYE students teams convincingly pitched their plans to a high powered panel of judges that comprised of successful entrepreneurs, management professionals and professors. Jason Caplain (General Partner, Southern Capitol Ventures), one of the judges of the competition said about the TYE program, “I am amazed at the talent of the high school students globally. Many of them presented at a very high level. Their ideas were creative, realistic and solved a real need.”. The panel of judges also included Hugh Shelton, Chairman RedHat, Madhu Beriwal President and CEO IEM, David Rizzo President and CEO, NC IDEA, and Dr. Tom Miller Executive Director, NCSU Entrepreneur Initiative.

In a amazing race, four teams emerged! First Place Co-Winner Heliohauls, TiE Carolinas-HelioHauls has developed a cutting edge solar auxiliary power system to provide a high performance solution for the idling problem. First Place Co-Winner: Betes Band LLC, TiE Austin-The ‘Betes Band is a “brandable” wristband that monitors blood sugar levels accurately enough to eliminate the need for pricking monitors. Second Place Illumination Corporation, TiE Boston-With the Portanova, customers get the power of an outlet charger with the portability of a smart phone case. Third Place: Lavacro, TiE Delhi-Lavacro’s mission is to revolutionize the laundry experience for a customer through innovative services and technologies. Thanks to all the students that founded companies: Pajamrama of TiE Atlanta, (insert company name) TiE Rajasthan, (insert company name) TiE Seattle, (insert company name) TiE London and Purestream of TiE San Diego.

Madhu Beriwal, one of the judges at the competition summed up the TYE experience saying, “It was a rewarding, uplifting, and amazing experience for me. I was impressed by the caliber of innovation evident in the ideas, the rigorous grounding of the idea in business realities, and the poise and confidence of the young entrepreneurs. I believe that there are two strong pathways to success as people, communities, and nations – education and entrepreneurship. What I saw at the TYE completion gives me hope for the global future.”

In the coming year, 17 TiE Chapters from 4 continents are expected to conduct the TiE Young Entrepreneurs program. These locations will include 9 cities from the US and Canada (Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Raleigh, Denver, Seattle, San Diego, Vancouver and Washington DC), 6 cities from India (Delhi, Chennai, Jaipur, Coimbatore, Bhubaneswar, Ahmedabad), Melbourne, Australia, and London, UK.

About TiE Young Entrepreneurs (TYE) Global Program
 

The aim of the TiE Young Entrepreneurs (TYE) Global Program is to empower our youth to become the next generation of entrepreneurs. TYE Global is a unique program that helps high school children learn about the challenges and rewards of becoming an entrepreneur. Seasoned entrepreneurs and mentors coach high school children (grades 9-12) based on a business-focused curriculum. The program comes to a close with global Business Plan Competition for the youth. The TYE program nurtures the creativity, self-confidence, leadership and overall development of the students.

About TiE

TiE Inc. (The Indus Entrepreneurs) is the world’s largest not-for-profit organization promoting entrepreneurship, spread over 57 locations across 14 countries. TiE’s mission to foster entrepreneurship globally through mentoring, networking, and education is delivered by its 11,000 members worldwide.