Breanne Couch from Fredonia won the Emporia Entrepreneur Challenge on April 10, as part of the annual EEC Community Showcase.
Thirteen teams from Emporia State University presented their business proposals to a team of judges and the community during the event. These teams were selected from an original pool of 50 teams, the largest number of entries to date. The competition consisted of three rounds: an executive summary review, oral presentation, and community showcase.
Teams who presented during the Community Showcase:
- Elicia Aceves: Neoskin
- Elicia Aceves: Selfie Slipper
- Ahmed Mansour Al-Faraj: Al-Faraj
- Andrew Blackwell: Food Truck
- Megan Budnik and Jessika Hamrick: GirlyPop Greek
- Breanne Couch: No Crumbs
- Brandon Danford and Jay Ball: Fantasy Fabricators
- Jason Hart: Wrap a World
- Addie Lackey and Sam Morgan: Prime Products
- Rob Lara: Underground
- Carissa McAfee: Expression Through Art
- Alex Rickard and Sydney Monteith: Exodus Files
- Brandon Rodiguez, Jesus Rodriguez, and Kayli Laughery: Accountabilibuddies ABBs
Teams were judged on concept, feasibility, market potential, business model and understanding of competition. Finalists were announced following a 5-minute pitch from four teams.
“The students who entered this competition have had a great experience,” said Dr. Ed Bashaw, dean of the School of Business. “They persevered through the several rounds with their ideas, received feedback from several different sources and got the chance to make multiple presentations in different settings. They now better understand what they would need to do to be successful in the market with their idea.”
First place and $2,500 was awarded to Breanne Couch for No Crumbs, a food truck venture idea. Couch is a sophomore business administration student at ESU. No Crumbs Food Truck is a mobile cuisine business that will sell fresh, authentic, scratch-made pies to the public. The menu features classic flavors, seasonal favorites as well as specialty pies. Couch will use the prize money to help with startup costs. She has purchased her food truck and plans to start selling pies this summer.
“I really enjoyed being able to compete in the Entrepreneurship Challenge,” she said. “Throughout the competition, my biggest motivator was the amount of local businesses that reached out to me and wanted to create business relationships; having established business people investing in me is so humbling and valuable! God gave me the gift of an analytical mind, I just had to figure out how to put it to good use.
“I learned it truly pays to do your research, to really know your business inside and out, and be confident in that. Oh, and that people really love pie!”
Second place and $1,500 was awarded to the team of Alex Rickard, a biochemistry and molecular biology major from Newton, and Sydney Monteith, a speech and theatre major from Rossville, for their business concept Exodus Files, a high school debate file production company.
Andrew Blackwell, ESU business education student from Overland Park, won third place and $500 for his Food Truck idea, one that will primarily serve comfort foods to college students late at night.
The three winners travel to Manhattan, on April 17 to represent Emporia State University at the Kansas Entrepreneur Challenge.
While at the Community Showcase, guests were invited to cast their vote for Community Choice based on displays and interactions with the competitors. Couch left a strong impression on spectators with her homemade pie samples, winning her the Community Choice award.
The EEC Committee included Dr. Jeff Muldoon, associate professor of management; Dr. Sheryl Lidzy, associate professor of communication and theater; and Beth Ginter, director of student services and marketing, School of Business. The committee would like to thank the following individuals for volunteering to help with the EEC:
- As a complement to the EEC, 27 teams participated in the Elevator Challenge in February, with some of the same teams moving on to compete in the EEC. Thank you to Rich Avery, Pizza Ranch, for judging this event.
- Judges for the first round of the EEC competition (grading the executive summaries) included: Dr. Steve Catt, ESU; Kim Dhority, FHTC; Dr. Chris Stone, ESU; and Dr. Antonina Bauman, ESU.
- Judges for the second (oral presentations) and final rounds (Community Showcase) included: Casey Woods, Emporia Main Street; Lisa Brumbaugh, Kansas Small Business Development Center; Rick Becker, Mulready’s Pub; Greg Yotz, Vektek; and Mike Crouch, Flint Hills Technical College.
- Another component of the challenge included Share Your Story Night. Thank you to these individuals who gave their time to help the teams with their concept and plan: Rich Avery, Pizza Ranch; Rick Tidwell, Valu-Net LLC; Pete Euler, State Farm; Jim Kessler, Modern Air (retired); Jose Feliciano, Flint Hills Mall; Mike Williams, Hopkins; Russ Bonitatibus, Lyon County State Bank; Bryon Rosine, Wright, CPA Group; Kim Redeker, The Sweet Granada; Bill Henricks, Insurance Planning Center; David Hurlocker, AT HOME Health Care; and Gretchen Russell, Subway Stores.