A focus on entrepreneurship

Two students who teamed up to combine their business knowledge and photography skills have won top honors in the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics’ inaugural business plan competition, with a proposal for a specialty photography studio.

The competition, held throughout the 2004-05 school year, concluded in late April with a panel of area business people judging the five finalists and awarding prizes of $2,000, $1,000 and $500 to the top three presentations. Envisioned as an annual, campuswide event, the competition is one of several initiatives the College recently has undertaken to expand its focus on entrepreneurship education.

Entrepreneurship is a growing area of emphasis in the Lerner College, which has been named one of the nation’s top 100 entrepreneurial colleges and universities by Entrepreneur magazine. Scott Jones, professor of accounting and management information systems and one of the organizers of the business plan competition, says that, as the U.S. economy continues to change, more and more graduates either will become entrepreneurs themselves at some point during their careers or will work for an emerging business.

“A lifetime career in a large corporation is not that common anymore,” Jones says. “There’s going to be a lot of new-business creation in the future, and we need graduates who are prepared for it.”

The winners of the first UD competition are Ryan Bonifacino, BE ’05, and Tom Smith, AS ’05. They developed a plan for Yakka Studios, a business specializing in event photography and targeting the college, athletic and corporate markets. Bonifacino graduated in May with majors in marketing and management, while Smith expects to graduate in December, majoring in art with a concentration in photography.

Early last fall, the two fraternity brothers began discussing the idea of opening a studio that would specialize in taking photos of sorority and fraternity events on campus. The idea “snowballed” from there, Smith says, and he and Bonifacino entered the business plan competition and also turned Yakka (an Australian term for “hard work”) Studios into a real venture. They shot their first job in February and since have specialized in middle school and high school athletic events and regional cheerleading competitions, where they take action, team and individual photos for purchase by participants and their parents.

“We plan on continuing the business after graduation,” Bonifacino said after winning the competition. “If we’ve been this successful after the first two months, while full-time students, imagine how well we will do when we put 100 percent into the business.”

Barry Williams, of the Delaware Small Business Development Center, which is part of the Lerner College, calls the five finalists in the business plan competition “the cream of the crop,” noting that they persevered through a long preparation and selection process. The competition was open to UD students in any college or field of study, and no course credit was given for participating.

“These are tomorrow’s entrepreneurs with a passion to turn their business plans into reality,” Williams says.

The competition began in the fall, when 26 individual students or student teams submitted business concepts. They later had the opportunity to attend workshops designed to guide them in developing full-fledged business plans, which were submitted for judging in March. The finalists chosen at that time were provided with coaching to prepare for their presentation sessions.

Students in the entrepreneurship LIFE (Learning Integrated Freshman Experience) cluster helped Williams and Jones organize and promote the competition on campus. LIFE clusters are opportunities for freshmen to live and take some courses together, based on a common area of interest, during their first semester at the University.

Second place in the business plan competition was awarded to Friciveri Carias, CHEP ’05, a student in the Department of Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management. Carias proposed a boutique resort inn, to be called Club Salinitas, in northern El Salvador.

Third-place honors went to David Egosi, BE ’05, a marketing major, for his College Fashions plan. The business, which he test-marketed at UD during
the fall semester, is an online retailer of discount-priced designer clothing.

The others who made presentations during the final round of competition were Yujuan Liu and Vahik Krikorian, both engineering graduate students, and Eric Ziegenfuss,
 AG ’06. Liu and Krikorian developed a plan based on research by John Rabolt, Karl W. and Renate Böer Professor and chairperson of materials science and engineering, to manufacture and market a device that could detect cataracts at an early stage. Ziegenfuss proposed an upscale restaurant, known as the Mushroom Palace, that would capitalize on the region’s reputation as a top mushroom producer.   

—Ann Manser, AS ’73, CHEP ’73