UB students take second in business competition

04/07/2002

By Dana Ambrosini, Connecticut Post
April 7, 2002

Three students at the University of Bridgeport were among the top winners of a $50,000 statewide business plan competition, preventing a Yale University sweep of the top five in the collegiate category.

NextStep, a student company from New Haven-based Yale, was the first-place winner in that category of the fifth annual “You Belong in Connecticut Business Plan Competition.”

The company, which provides Internet educational services to prepare students for college and graduate school admission tests, won $20,000 from the competition.

MediTek, a business proposal by three UB seniors for a company that makes sensing and recording devices for the medical industry, took second place and $12,500.

The competition is sponsored by Ace-Net, a New Haven non-profit that hooks up entrepreneurs with startup investors. The state Department of Economic and Community Development provided the funding. Nine collegiate companies and four startups presented their plans before a panel of judges from Ace-Net, DECD and venture capitalists.

The money will help MediTek get a patent on one of its devices, said Isack Waserman, who won with fellow students Alexi Georghiou and Fran Jaranjak.

Waserman would not give a description of the product because the company hasn’t obtained a patent on it yet.

More importantly, the company’s business plan will be exposed to potential investors on Ace-Net’s Web site, Waserman said.

“We will have the opportunity to be exposed to new investors,” Waserman said. The competition drew 60 applicants this year, compared with 25 a year ago.

“The quality of the participants was outstanding,” said Dan Mitchell, a director of Ace-Net. “We’re proud to help some of the state’s most innovative young startup entrepreneurs and start-up companies get an opportunity to bring their innovative ideas closer to reality.

The other three collegiate business plan winners and their prizes were:
· U.S. Stock Insurance Corp. of Yale, which offers stock insurance, $10,000;
· The M Power Group of Yale, which provides smart energy management systems to residential consumers, $5,000;
· Erisa Claim Exchange Inc. of Yale, which offers accelerated payment to medical providers via a Web-based ex-change, $2,500;

AQSolutions of New Haven, the winner in the start-up category, will present its plan at the Connecticut Venture Group Crossroads Fair this May.
The company handles the information technology needs of other companies, including developing customized software. It has been in business for a year and has a development center in Accra, Ghana.
“Presenting at this competition prepares us to sharpen our pitch to investors,” said Awo A. Quaison-Sackey, president and founder of AQ.