Syracuse University students at 2018 New York Business Plan Competition. From left, Charles Keppler and Serena Ogie Evah Omo Lamai, co-founders of Fibre Free, Kayla Simon and Elizabeth Tarangelo, co-founders of In-Spire, and Julia Haber, founder of WAYV and Home From College.
The New York Business Plan Competition (NYBPC), powered by Upstate Capital, is currently accepting applications through Friday, March 1, from graduate and undergraduate students across Central New York colleges and universities for the regional qualifier in Central New York. This year the regional competition will be held at SUNY Oswego’s downtown Syracuse campus on Friday, March 22. The two top regional teams, as selected by regional business and community leaders, will progress to compete in three rounds of finals, leading to the final competition on Thursday, April 25, in Albany.
The competition promotes entrepreneurial opportunities for college students from across the state who pitch their business plans to seasoned investors. They also receive the opportunity to engage with mentors and judges from the business community. The finals event connects students with business professionals, provides experiential learning opportunities through competitions, connects entrepreneurs with resources at the Entrepreneurship Expo, and awards up to $100,000 in cash prizes to help seed new ventures.
Students will compete in one of the following tracks:
Aditee Malviya G’25, studying in the School of Engineering and Computer Science, was selected as a student ambassador to share entrepreneurial resources at the Blackstone LaunchPad and spread the word about the competition on the Syracuse University campus.
Students from regional colleges and universities should apply here for the Central New York competition and indicate Central New York as the region.
Josh Aviv ’15, G’17, CEO of Sparkcharge, the 2018 NYBPC Grand Prize winner, said “…Through winning the New York business plan competition, we were able to develop one of our first ever prototype charging stations that has now evolved into a multimillion-dollar business. We also received a ton of mentorship guidance… We now have offices across the United States…”
Since 2010, the NYBPC has helped to launch more than 200 student-led ventures and generated more than $150 million in economic impact.
