Tulane Entrepreneurs' Association 2010 Annual Report

8/7/2019 Tulane Entrepreneurs' Association 2010 Annual Report

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New HeightsI am pleased to announce the greatstrides we made this year in our

efforts to promote entrepreneurship

and provide our members the skills

necessary to successfully launch and

sustain new ventures. When taking

over as president last year, I had a

few key goals in mind for our

organization:

1. Increase visibility at the local,

national, and international levels

2. Grow the Annual Business Plan

Competition

3. Enhance the overall educational

experience for our members

Through the hard work and

leadership of our officer corps, we

successfully achieved all three of

these objectives. On behalf of TEA, I

thank you for your continued

involvement with the organization.

Our many programs and initiatives

would not be possible without your

continued support.

Sincerely,

Matt Dearmon, Outgoing President

TEA and LRI decided to focus the

2010 Competition on the principles

of Conscious Capitalism. In doing

so we offered a single cash prize of$50,000 to the best student team.

The increased prize offering, along

with our teams extensive

marketing campaign, attracted a

record 93 plans from

51universities, 9 countries, and 5

continents. The increased level of

participation and geographic

diversity indicates a steady move

toward a truly global competition.

Thanks to the tireless efforts our

officers, student volunteers, and

the dedicated LRI staff, this years

Competition was extremely

successful.

Competition Sets Records

ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR George

Wiilson, Jr. (left) of Barriere Construction was

honored by Dr. John Elstrott (right) for

Entrepreneurship in New Orleans.

TBPC WINNERS Sunil Bhardwaj (left) and

Sameer Hajee (right) earned the top prize of

$50,000 in the Tulane Business Plan

Competition.

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR. Kathryn Hall-

Trujillo (left), founding director of Birthing

Project USA, was honored as Tulane Social

Entrepreneur of the Year.

Tulane Entrepreneurs ANNUAL REPORT 2010

Continued Page 2


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2010 TEA OFFICERS

ABOUT ME

Name: Emily Roberts

Position: VP Competition

Major: MBA

Graduation: May 2011

What Brett Does: Emily

organizes the competition in

its entirety from the events,

judging, and team

participation. She is actively

recruiting sponsors and

coordinating all fundraising

activities, as well as

promoting the ideals of

conscious capitalism.COMPETITION SETS RECORDS (CONT. FROM PAGE 1)

In order to judge 93 submissions, over 80 judges

volunteered their time and expertise, offering our

participants invaluable feedback on their

entrepreneurial endeavors.

With our new focus on Conscious Capitalism,

teams were forced to consider the total

alignment of stakeholder interests, instead of

simply trying to maximize shareholder value,

adding another level of complexity to the

Competition.

The following three teams progressed to the

final round live-pitch round on April 16th:

NURU Light University of California, Berkley

Winduction London Business School

Cortical Concepts John Hopkins

Our panel of seven judges chose NURU Light as

the winner of the 2010 Tulane Business Plan

Competition.

NUMBERS

Applications

93Countries Represented

9Universities

51


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TEA Wins CrestAward for StudentOrganization ofthe Year

Started in 1998, Tulane

Universitys Student Crest Awards

recognize the achievements of

students (campus-wide) outside of

the classroom. The Martha H.

Sullivan Student Organization of

the Year Award is presented to the

organization that stood out as a

leader among Tulanes more than

200 student organizations. On

April 22, 2010 the Student Crest

Award committee selected the

Tulane Entrepreneurs Association

as the Student Organization of theYear! This award is well deserved

by the TEAs members who

tirelessly devoted countless hours

to the organizations mission.

MatchNOLA

In 2009 TEA began matching

students seeking experience with

entrepreneurial ventures with local

entrepreneurs in the Greater New

Orleans area. After receiving positive

feedback from participants, we

decided to formalize the program in

2010, calling it MatchNOLA. In doing

so, she took MatchNOLA to the next

level, installing a formal application

process and guidelines for the student

teams and local entrepreneurs to use.

We successfully matched eight teams

of students with local ventures in

New Orleans, providing students with

experiences they sought and local

entrepreneurs the business support

they needed. In fact, the members of

the winning team of the New Day

Challenge, Drop the Chalk, connected

through MatchNOLA. TEA plans to

continue growing this program to

expand our impact in New Orleans!

OUR SUPPORTERS: WHAT THEY HAVE TO SAY...

Thanks to all of our final round judges

for their invaluable feedback to

participants and for making our

competition a success.

EDUCATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance

2010 Conference in San Francisco

Over the past couple years we have significantly increased the level of

participation in our Annual Business Plan Competition, which in turn

has increased the visibility of the Freeman School at all levels.

Recognizing our recent accomplishments, the NCIIA staff invited us to

the organizations annual conference to present on the steps we have

taken in recent years that have led to our success. In March of this year

Lina Alfieri-Stern, Director of the Levy-Rosenblum Institute, Ralph

Maurer, visiting professor of strategy and entrepreneurship at the

Freeman School, and Matt Dearmon traveled to San Francisco to

provide a diverse audience of academics, administrators, and students

an overview of the entrepreneurship program at Tulane. Overall, the

trip was a success, as our presentation was well received and we learned

a great deal from being in the audience for other presenters.

Thanks to Stephanie Barksdale and

the Tulane Social Entrepreneurship

Initiatives for their partnership.

Aaron Miscenich andStevenCeulemans of the New Orleans

BioInnovation Center have provided

continuous support to the TBPC.


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by Chris Williams

Incoming TEA President

IMPROVING EXPERIENCES FOR TEAIt is with great pleasure that I write

to you today as the incoming

President of TEA. Currently enteringour tenth year of operation, TEA is

now considered to be one of the most

active student organizations on

campus. As the entrepreneurial

spirit continues to grow within the

Greater New Orleans Area, Tulane

students from across the globe are

becoming more interested in

entrepreneurship and new-venture

planning. Through the hard work of

our predecessors, TEA has built an

incredible reputation of successfully

providing our students with the tools

and resources necessary to start and

sustain viable ventures. By meeting

the educational demands not met by a

traditional curriculum, TEA adds real

value to the academic experience of

Tulane students and makes a positive

difference in our local community.

As incoming President, I have the

responsibility of leading my dedicated

group of officers and continuing our

mission of promoting purpose-

driven entrepreneurial activity atTulane. Having recently being ranked

4th in the nation in Graduate

Entrepreneurship Education by the

Princeton Review and Entrepreneur

Magazine, TEA plans to capitalize on

this achievement through increased

membership and heightened national

exposure. By inspiring innovation

and teaching our members how to

construct profitable business models,

we strive to enhance regional

economic growth and to positively

impact society as a whole. TEA

attempts to achieve these goals by

finding new and creative ways to add

value in the business community,

while closely following the ideals of

conscious capitalism - which is our

organizations focus.

We are extremely grateful for the

support of the University, the A.B.

Freeman School of Business, our

sponsors, supporters, and members.

It is only through their collective

efforts that our organizations

mission becomes a reality. Im

extremely optimistic about the

strides TEA will make in the

following year and look forward to

working with you all in the near

future. Thank you for your

continued support!

Continuing the Tradition: Chris Williams

SPONSORING ENTREPRENEURSThe Tulane Entrepreneurs Association is

funded through its supporters every year. All

gifts help foster entrepreneurship through

education and encourage young people to be

involved in the community and pass on their

education to others. TEA is currently seeking

a marquee sponsorship. Please join us!

Contact Chris Williams ([email protected])

for more information.

THANKS TO LRI STAFF:Lina Alfieri-Stern

Rosalind Butler

Terry McGuckin

John Elstrott

TULANE ENTREPRENEURSGoldring Woldenberg Hall 1; Suite 401

7 McAlister Drive

Documents

Tulane Entrepreneurs' Association 2010 Annual Report