Brock School of Business, Samford University

Regions New Venture Challenge Rules and Guidelines

Samford University’s Brock School of Business and Regions Bank have teamed-up for the first ever “Regions New Venture Challenge” business plan competition for Samford students to take place in April 2009.  The business plan competition is one in a series of new programs at the Brock School of Business aimed at making it a leading school for those seeking to become entrepreneurs.  Regions Bank donated $20,000 to fund this year’s competition.

The competition will take place in three stages with submissions due April 3, 2009, followed by a semi-final round the week of April 13.  Finalists will then have the opportunity to pitch their business plans to Regions executives and other business leaders in Birmingham at a ceremony at Regions’ headquarters.

The competition will consist of two divisions. The first is one open to students enrolled in the School’s BUSA 100, World of Business, course during the spring 2009 semester. The second division will be open to teams consisting of at least 50 percent currently enrolled undergraduate or graduate Samford University students or recent alumni.  Samford alumni must have graduated in May 2006 or later to be eligible.

Monetary prizes for each division will be as follow:

BUSA 100 Division
1st place: $ 2,500
2nd place: $ 1,000
3rd  place: $   500

Open Division
1st place:  $7,500
2nd place: $5,000
3rd place:  $2,500


All teams and individuals entering the competition will be subject to the following rules:

  1. All currently enrolled Samford University undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to enter.  Recent Samford alumni, defined as those having graduated in May 2006 or later may also enter the competition.

 All teams must be comprised of at least 50 percent of members drawn from any combination of the above list of eligible students or alumni.  Thus, teams can include non-Samford students or Samford alumni graduating prior to May 2006 as long as the 50 percent criterion is maintained.

  1. All submitted plans must be the original work of at least one of the submitting team’s members.  Teams will sign a certification attesting to this fact prior to an entry being accepted into the competition.

Plans can be submitted for businesses in the idea or pre-start-up phase of the business.  Plans may also be submitted for an existing business, but the business must have been originally licensed to operate on April 1, 2008 or later.

  1. All plans will be treated in the spirit of non-disclosure, and none will be distributed outside the judging panel without signed permission from the majority of a submitting team’s members.  Judging panels for the three rounds of competition will potentially consist of Brock School of Business faculty, other Samford University faculty, and business professionals from outside the University.  No other provisions related to intellectual property protection for business plans entered in this competition are provided.

Deadlines will be strictly enforced, and no exceptions will be made for late submissions for any reason.  The deadline for all submissions will be April 3rd, 2009 at 4:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time.  Deadlines for the second and third rounds will be provided to teams that successfully pass through the first round.  For all rounds, business plans can be submitted using any of the following procedures:

    1. Paper copies can be turned in at the Brock School of Business Office of the Dean (326 Dwight Beeson Hall)
     Plans can be faxed to the Brock School of Business at (205) 726-2464.
    1. Electronic copies can be emailed to Professor Franz T. Lohrke, Chair, Entrepreneurship, Management, and Marketing Department in the Brock School of Business at ftlohrke@samford.edu.
  1. Judges will employ criteria including market viability, potential business competitiveness, and team qualifications when assessing business plans.  If no plans meet the judges’ minimum criteria, no prizes will be awarded.  Throughout all stages of the competition, decisions of the judges are final.

The University, in its sole and absolute discretion, reserves the right to disqualify any team from the competition at any time for any reason, including, but not limited to, plagiarism or any other form of academic dishonesty, intellectual property infringement or misappropriation, misrepresentation of eligibility based on student or alumni status, or failure to meet stated deadlines.   Disqualified teams will immediately forfeit any monetary and non-monetary prizes that they have been awarded.