Businessmen and women from across the state will come together to make connections, network, speak to potential investors and promote innovation across a variety of contexts at the UW College of Business Entrepreneurship Summit and John P Ellbogen $50K competition.
The event is taking place today, April 26 in the Marian H. Rochelle Gateway Center.
There will be panelists discussing working aspects of entrepreneurship, and keynote speakers discussing innovation in business.
Steve Russell, director of marketing and external relations for the UW College of Business, is in charge of running the entrepreneurship competition and said that participants come from every college on campus.
“People that are not a part of the College of Business get a lot more out of this event than people who are,” Russel said. “Typically, people who become entrepreneurs do not often exist within a business school. They can actually live in a music department, or an art department or even an engineering school.”
The featured keynote speaker for this year’s summit is Mindie Kaplan, the CEO and founder of Rated VR, a full-service virtual reality agency that utilizes new technologies and digital media to promote their clients’ brands. According to ratedvr.com Kaplan’s previous work experience includes applying branding and technology to major companies such as Microsoft and Nissan. Kaplan also has a career in journalism stemming from her time as the creator and co-host of “Happy Hour with Mindie,” at the Chicago Sun-Times.
Although RSVP is required, the entrepreneurship summit and John P. Ellbogen $50K Competition is an all-day event that also offers breakfast, lunch and dinner. The UW President Laurie Nichols will also be giving opening remarks at the welcome ceremony.
“The entire event is not just about our university,” Russell said. “To me this event is our college’s way of providing service to our entire state.”
According to the John P. Ellbogen Foundation’s website, their mission is “To create or cause change primarily for the benefit of the people of the state of Wyoming through the support of science, education, and charity.”
The John P. Ellbogen Foundation is committed to promoting and furthering education not just for the University of Wyoming, but the entire state as a whole. Ellbogen’s daughter, Mary Garland, said her father was a businessman in Wyoming and believed giving to the entrepreneurship competition supported his own personal values and those of the foundation’s donors, and additionally, he was interested in benefiting the State of Wyoming.
“A number of years ago the competition was going on, but we thought it could use more resources,” Garland said in regard to the foundation’s support for the entrepreneurship competition.
Through the John P. Ellbogen $50K Entrepreneurship Competition, college students from all over Wyoming are able to present their business ideas to a panel of judges. The team of student entrepreneurs that present an idea with the greatest business potential, determined by the judges, will be awarded cash prizes totaling $50,000 given almost exclusively by donors.
Russell said that when sharing an idea with the judges, a student’s ability to demonstrate their passion is great, but the most important aspect of a pitch is how thoroughly they have conducted research to truly understand how their ideas can function.
“90 percent of business consists of the same business processes, and the other 10% is entrepreneurship, so when you think about it every business really has to know how to sell something,” Russell said.
In terms of economic diversification, Russell said he believes this event is one of the largest things happening in the State of Wyoming, and that it is a great representation of how our university can influence the entire state and help our economy improve.
Participants in the competition include a broad range of students, from undergraduate students all the way up to those completing a doctorate, as well as people from all departments and areas of study.
Russell said the role of the Entrepreneurship Summit and John P. Ellbogen $50K Competition is to provide a foundation to further develop an existing idea and determine how an idea can exist within a business or entrepreneurship world.
To see a full schedule of events or RSPV to attend the event, www.uwyo.edu/business/entrepreneurship
