Ouachita Stories

Ouachita Baptist University and Henderson State University students went head to head in a business plan competition last week. Three teams from each school competed against each other for $10,000 in prize money with Ouachita teams earning second and fourth place.

Ouachita students Britta Stamps, a senior political science major from Fort Smith, Ark., and Tanner Ward, a senior business finance/management and mass communications double major from Bryant, Ark., were awarded $3,000 for second place. Ouachita senior Nate Peace, a mass communications, Christian studies and Biblical languages triple major from Bedford, Texas, was awarded $1,000 for fourth place.

“We had really hoped, of course, that OBU would beat HSU in the competition but we are very proud to have earned second place,” Stamps said. “We knew our competition from OBU going into the competition but had no idea what to expect from HSU's teams.”

Henderson team Dynamic Strokes was awarded first place and $4,000 for their business plan that utilizes an endless swimming pool for specialized swim instruction. Henderson team Pregame Recruiting took third place and was awarded $2,000 for their business plan based on helping high school baseball players secure collegiate baseball opportunities.

With Chris Brune as their faculty advisor, Stamps and Ward teamed up to plan TheSpot, a youth sports complex in Dallas offering 13 different sports in one location as well as a restaurant, a gym for adults and a childcare center. TheSpot had earned second place in the OBU Business Plan Competition in December.

Both of the OBU teams plan to compete in the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup statewide business plan competition at the University of Arkansas in March. A total of $80,000 will be awarded at the Governor’s Cup. The students said the OBU/HSU competition is helping them prepare for the upcoming competition.

“We will take the judges’ comments from this competition to further improve our plan, then submit it to the Governor's Cup competition,” Stamps said. “The Governor's Cup competition is the main drive for all of our work on the plan, so hearing feedback from five additional judges makes us a lot more confident in our plan. We have also gained the experience of presenting to more business professionals and answering tough questions on the spot.”

“I plan on participating in the Governor's Cup competition after updating my plan to make it as strong as my idea,” Peace said. His plan for iNews.com, a social news media website for young adults, earned first place in the OBU Business Plan Competition in December. “The Governor's Cup is extremely competitive and hard to win, but thanks to the two competitions I have been through and received feedback from, I am extremely hopeful and looking forward to competing.”

Participating in the business plan competition has been enlightening for the students in a more lasting way than just preparing for the next competition, however.

“The business plan competition has gotten me to start thinking like an entrepreneur, and I hope that soon I will be able to use the skills I learned from the competition to open my own business,” Ward said. “The competition was also a great networking tool and good practice in business communicating, as Britta and I were able to work with several prominent businessmen on our plan and interact with the business leaders who judged the competitions.”

“From this opportunity I gained a glimpse of the ridiculously long hours and preparation it takes to begin a business,” Peace said. “It's not just a split second decision that results in millions, but a long drawn-out process filled with a plethora of bad ideas, a few good ideas and one or two great ideas.”

Bryan McKinney, dean of the Hickingbotham School of Business and associate professor of business law, pointed out more benefits of the competition, saying, “One challenge in higher education is bridging the gap between theory and practice. This business plan competition does that as well as anything I've seen. Students apply the theories they've learned in class to a very practical business plan.”

McKinney said the business plan competition also “fosters a spirit of entrepreneurialism on campus” and “provides great opportunities for students and professors to collaborate on a project outside of the classroom.”

Businessmen and women from around the state judged the competition. Judges included: Curtis Arnold, founder of Cardratings.com; Phyllis Holifield, certified public accountant at Priddy & Holifield; Chris Wewers, executive vice president and chief operating officer of First Federal Bancshares of Arkansas; Jimmy Bolt, city manager of Arkadelphia; and Shawnie Carrier, president and chief executive officer of Arkadelphia Regional Economic Development Alliance.

For more information, contact Bryan McKinney at [email protected] or (870) 245-5513.

By Nicci Fillinger