Student Entrepreneurial Ideas Profiled During University System of NH Contest

Many entrants to be featured during Entrepreneurship Week USA

Dec. 1, 2006 – Durham, NH – “Think.Create.Innovate.” This is what 25 teams were encouraged to do when they entered their “big ideas” into the first ever University System of New Hampshire (USNH) Entrepreneurial Contest. About 40 students on teams from the University of New Hampshire UNH) and Plymouth State University creatively displayed their ideas at the contest. The winner walked out with a $500 prize, but all entrants were invited to profile their creative ideas during the first ever Entrepreneurship Week USA, planned for the week of February 24, 2007.

The idea for the contest and the theme (Think.Create.Innovate) were developed by a team of nine senior UNH business students participating in a marketing workshop class. The “clients” for the students were USNH and the New York Times, which approached the class about inspiring and educating college students on the topic of entrepreneurship. The New York Times is one of the primary partners with the Kauffman Foundation on the national Entrepreneurship Week USA (www.entrepreneurshipweekusa.com) effort.

The students developed the contest as the primary vehicle for gaining exposure to entrepreneurship week and increasing student involvement in entrepreneurship.

“This is the most coordinated effort I am aware of on any campus nationally to make students aware of Entrepreneurship Week USA and I applaud the organizers and those who developed their entrepreneurial ideas to be showcased in such a short amount of time,” said Felice Nudelman, director of education marketing at the New York Times.

The students promoted the event through many different marketing efforts. Clever posters were designed to build off the “Got Milk” campaign, using “Got Ideas?” as their catch phrase. They profiled entrepreneurs ranging from Bill Gates and Donald Trump to Sean “Diddy” Combs. The Trump tag line was “you’re hired,” while the Combs line (think free or die) was built off New Hampshire’s “live free or die” motto.

A panel of guest judges selected Project Seaweed as the winner, based on the criteria of creativity, originality, presentation and feasibility. Through observations and research, the Project Seaweed team discovered a common problem amongst New England surfers. The problem is created as surfers change into and out of their wetsuits at the beach and become exposed to extreme weather conditions. The Project Seaweed team created two inexpensive product concepts that solve the issues surfers face when changing. Project Seaweed members include four UNH students: Luke Hemenway, Josh Francis, Kevin Ebert, and Christine Carbone.

Plans are underway to develop ways to encourage and showcase a wide variety of entrepreneurial efforts underway in New Hampshire during Entrepreneurship Week USA. The New York Times plans to stay involved in this effort in New Hampshire and profile this project on the educational section of their web site as a model that could be replicated nationwide.

“We are a very entrepreneurial state, and these students demonstrated this through their creativity and ingenuity,” said Matt Cookson, USNH associate vice chancellor for external relations. “We plan to build on this and are working on a statewide effort to showcase all different types of entrepreneurial activities across New Hampshire as part of Entrepreneurship Week USA.”

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