Winners announced at the 2005 UH Business Plan Competition
University of Hawaiʻi at MānoaHONOLULU - The UH College of Business‘ Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship and E-Business (PACE) announced the winners of the 2005 UH Business Plan Competition. Seven teams presented their business plans before a panel of judges at the UH Manoa campus on Tuesday, April 26, 2005.
More than $80,000 in cash prizes was awarded. The $25,000 first prize went to Risk Assessment Laboratories. The $15,000 second prize went to Professional Nurse Recruiters. The $20,000 social enterprise category prize went to Hoku International, LLC. First, second and social enterprise category prizes are sponsored by The Case Foundation. The $20,000 UH Technology prize, provided by the UH Office of Technology Transfer and Economic Development, went to first place winners Risk Assessment Laboratories. Winners are also provided with venture template consultations and presentation slots for the Wayne Brown Institute 2005 Investors Choice International Equity Capital Conference.
The seven finals judges were Tom Gottlieb, chairman of Mandara Spa; Debra Guerin, co-founder of International Venture Fund; Evan Hochberg, managing director of Community Wealth Ventures; Chong-Moon Lee, chairman of AmBex Venture Group; Sally Little, President of Entrepreneurial Solutions; Susan Scott, vice chairman of Get2Hawaii; and Peter Ziebelman, general partner with Palo Alto Venture Partners.
Winning Team Information:
*Hoku International, LLC, is a QHTB certified Hawaiʻi based agribusiness specializing in the research and development of high quality Hawaiʻi grown native and non-native plants and various medicinal herbs.
Team members: Lori Oshima, Rod Oshima, Dr. Ingelia White, Jeff Sakai and Susie Kuhn
Contact: Susie Kuhn, (808) 372-4357, skuhn@boh.com
Professional Nurse Recruiters‘ mission is to reduce the United State‘s nursing shortage by providing a value-added recruiting service placing foreign nurses in U.S. healthcare facilities, initially within the state of Hawaii.
Team members: Tim Dunn, Teresa Ward, Manxiang Fu and Bryan Haines
Contact: Bryan Haines, (301) 471-4484, haines@hawaii.edu
Risk Assessment Laboratories has developed a test, which will be administered by hospitals and funded by insurance companies, that accurately predicts preterm birth and diagnoses disease.
Team members: Stephen Morgan, Robert Sherman, John Ng, Peter Bryant-Greenwood and Kevin Rosenblatt
Contact: Stephen Morgan, (808) 265-1731, stephentmorgan@hotmail.com
* Social Enterprise Category Teams
Social enterprises are nonprofit or for-profit business ventures that strive to achieve a quantifiable double bottom line of financial and social returns. These ventures are financially self-sufficient.