April 17, 2001
University Park, PA---Four Penn State teams are in the final stage of a University-wide business plan contest. The winner, or winners, will be awarded seed money of up to $250,000 to develop and launch their new company, according to Chris Gamble, contest coordinator and assistant to the dean for alumni relations in the College of the Liberal Arts.

Four teams have been chosen as finalists out of the original 195 teams that enrolled. The four teams will advance to the final phase of the U2B (University-to-Business) Fox Challenge contest that Penn State launched in September 2000. "Ideally, the winning plan or plans will turn into innovative and profitable business ventures," says Gamble.

The U2B Fox Challenge is the brainchild of Penn State alumnus Ken Fox, a 1993 economics graduate, who is co-founder and managing director of Internet Capital Group, Inc., an internet company engaged in business-to-business e-commerce.

The contest was initiated to engage students at Penn State in entrepreneurship, from conceptualization and planning through launching a new company. Fox is giving up to $250,000 to the University to fund a new business presented by the groups of students and selected by a panel of University and business leaders.

Each team was required to have no less than one-third undergraduate student membership and have at least one full-time undergraduate student in a lead role. The teams could also include graduate students and faculty.

The four teams and their proposed businesses are:

Adiella---offshore outsourcing service providing Web and software development. Adiella team members are: Husam Ali Brohi, Ali Chaudhry, Sobia Chaudhry, and Auzim Sultan;

Aryam---research and development outsourcing and technology transfer to and from India. Aryam team members are: Kaushik Raha, Michael Sprague, Uday Turaga, and Ryan Zarnitz;

Pleasant Cove---senior day care and home assistance franchise. Pleasant Cove team members are: Heather Bergman and Mark Bergman

Vasor---customizable online product support service. Vasor team members are: Laura Beck, Richard Kaplan, Colin Murphy, Justin Plock, John Ruiz, William Them, and Luis Valbuena.

"Each team will pitch its plan to the review panelists at the end of spring semester," says Gamble. "This contest has been a valuable learning process for the students as they developed their plans, especially for the students who are not business majors. They explored all aspects of business planning, from their initial idea, to financing to human resources," he says.

The contest was organized by the College of the Liberal Arts, with assistance from an interdisciplinary steering committee that included the deans of business, engineering, and information, science, and technology; the vice president for research; and the vice president for development and alumni relations.

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For additional information, please contact Chris Gamble, cxg29@psu.edu, or by telephone at 863-1827.