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Competition begets business

With a goal of encouraging the development of new business in central Ohio through 2009, the Kiwanis Club of Columbus, Ohio, sponsors an annual competition among MBA candidates.

The prototype is installed by a member of the UV Hygenics team.

“This is a competition between four Columbus-area graduate schools of business, Ohio State University, Ohio Dominican University, Capital University, and Franklin University,” says club member Fil Line. “Each university is asked to conduct its own in-house competition to yield its best new business idea. So, four business plans are submitted for judging by a group of four judges. The judges are high-level business executives from the Columbus area—none of whom have an affiliation with our club.”

Entrants must submit a business plan for a start-up company in Central Ohio. Entries develop a market analysis and technical plan in addition to a budget, financial projections, and cash-flow calculations. The judges determine the ultimate winner based on economic viability and likelihood of success.

The prize money is awarded once a legal business entity is formed, and the money must be used in capitalizing the business.

“The winning business plan came from the Ohio State University team, and that team was awarded $10,000 this past September, after it had established the formal business entity to implement its plan,” Fil says.“The name of the company is UV Hygenics. (The product is) an ultra-violet light-based hygiene system for automatically cleaning public toilet seats.

Fil says the funds used as prize money come from the club’s Columbus Kiwanis Foundation.

“Our club conducts two fundraisers each year, and all of the funds raised go into our foundation,” Fil says.“The foundation then supports the charitable activities of the various club committees that work on service projects in the community.”