Brock School of Business and Regions team up for the Regions New Venture Challenge Business Plan Competition
February 10, 2009
Brock School of Business Contact: Kara Kennedy, Director of External Affairs, 205-726-4070, kkennedy@samford.edu
Click Here for Regions New Venture Challenge Rules and Guidelines
Click Here for Regions New Venture Challenge Business Plan Basics
Birmingham, Ala. – 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. 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.
“We are excited to work with Samford in introducing the Regions New Venture Challenge,” said Bill Horton, Regions North Central Alabama area executive. “Encouraging new business development and entrepreneurship is important to us because it not only helps students bring their business ideas to life, it also promotes growth in our local economy.”
The competition will take place in three stages with submissions due April 3, 2009, followed by a semifinal 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 on April 28.
The competition will consist of two divisions. The first is one open to students enrolled in the School’s World of Business course.
“We believe this course is unique because it offers our pre-business students, many of whom are freshmen, the opportunity to write a preliminary business plan. Many other universities with competitions of this nature wait until students’ junior or senior years before offering them courses like this,” said Beck A. Taylor, dean of Brock School of Business, who jointly teaches the course in the spring semester with Barbara Cartledge, assistant professor and director of the Brock School’s undergraduate programs. “Because of our partnership with Regions Bank, we now have a competition for these students that will both reward them for their efforts and provide them lasting benefits as they progress through their business studies.”
The top team in the BUSA 100 division will receive $2,500 in start-up money for their business. Second and third place teams in the freshman division will receive awards of $1,000 and $500, respectively.
The other division will be open to teams consisting of at least 50 percent current Samford students (undergraduate or graduate) or recent alumni. Alumni must have graduated in May 2006 or later in order to qualify as participants in the competition. The top team in the open division will receive $7,500 to start their business. Second and third place teams in the open division will receive awards of $5,000 and $2,500, respectively.
Business plans for both divisions can be submitted for companies currently in the concept stage or pre-start-up phase. Business plans for existing businesses can be entered, but only for businesses that are less than one-year old as of April 1, 2009. See www.samford.edu/business for additional information.
“We are extremely grateful for Regions’ generosity in supporting our entrepreneurship program,” said Franz Lohrke, chair of the entrepreneurship, management, and marketing department at the Brock School of Business. “Top programs often host business plan competitions to encourage students to develop first-rate business plans that they can then use to start a new business. These competitions also benefit the top teams by providing some initial funding and publicity, both of which can be critical in helping new businesses survive the risky start-up phase. In addition, our strategic goal at the Brock School of Business is to build one of the top programs in the country for training future entrepreneurs, and the New Venture Challenge provides us a business plan competition on par with universities nationally recognized for their entrepreneurship programs.”
In related news, the Brock School of Business will host its first Executives-in-Residence Week April 6-10 where executives and entrepreneurs will teach classes each day of the week. Special panels and executive presentations also will be part of the program.
About the Brock School of Business at Samford University:
The renaming of the Samford School of Business to the Brock School of Business in December 2007 is the latest in a long history of achievements for business education at Samford, which has offered degrees in business and commerce since 1922. In 1965, the School of Business was established to offer both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business. Alabama’s first part-time master of business administration degree program was established at Samford, and the first MBA degrees were awarded in 1967. The master of accountancy degree was approved in 1995. The business school was fully accredited by AACSB International in 1999, a recognition earned by less than 10 percent of business schools worldwide.
About Regions Financial Corporation
Regions Financial Corporation, with $146 billion in assets, is a member of the S&P 100 Index and one of the nation's largest full-service providers of consumer and commercial banking, trust, securities brokerage, mortgage and insurance products and services. Regions serves customers in 16 states across the South, Midwest and Texas, and through its subsidiary, Regions Bank, operates 1,900 banking offices and approximately 2,300 ATMs. Its investment and securities brokerage trust and asset management division, Morgan Keegan & Company Inc., provides services from over 300 offices. Additional information about Regions and its full line of products and services can be found at www.regions.com.
