"Elevator Pitch Competition" Launched at UWM The UWM School of Business Administration and the UWM Chapter of the
Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization (CEO) launched the School’s first “elevator pitch” competition this spring, with three students winning cash awards for the business ideas they presented.
The 2005 Elevator Pitch Competition provided students with the opportunity to present a business concept to a panel of judges. Ideas were judged on their overall merit, as well as on criteria including innovation and feasibility.
The term “elevator pitch” means presenting a business idea in the time that it would take to ride up an elevator. Students were allowed two minutes each for their presentations.
“Presenting yourself effectively is an essential tool in business,” said Jim Hunter, Bostrom Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the UWM Business School and President of MII Equipment, Inc. “The students did a terrific job of communicating their ideas for future business ventures.”
Eleven students competed for three cash awards. Michael McKinney, a junior in the Business School, won the top award of $300 for his proposal for a new prosthetics technology to benefit amputees. Sophomore Jonathan Wells took the second place award for his proposal for a DVD sale and rental unit for the UWM residence halls. Senior Jonathan Henshue won third place with his idea for a global positioning system (GPS) for tracking pets.
The judges for the competition included Steve Appel, President of Appel Business Advisors, Inc. and the former CEO of Value Merchants, Inc.; Leonard Goldstein, the Harley-Davidson Executive-in-Residence at the UWM Business School and retired Chairman & CEO of Miller Brewing Company; and Torsten Ringberg, Assistant Professor of Marketing.
The UWM School of Business Administration offers an undergraduate certificate in entrepreneurship, as well as an MBA emphasis in entrepreneurship. The School’s entrepreneurship curriculum is augmented with an entrepreneur internship program and activities of CEO, the student professional organization promoting entrepreneurship.
