Skandalaris Center

Winners of this year’s Olin Cup business competition got $75,000 to jump-start their ventures and create jobs. Ken Harrington, managing director of the Skandalaris Center at WUSTL, announced the winners Feb. 5 at the annual award ceremony in Graham Chapel.

Dancing classrooms, online philanthropy, a resale shop, produce market and programs to empower youth are among the projects in the final round of this year’s social entrepreneurship competition.  The YouthBridge SEIC competition will award $155,000 in April to the business plans with the most promise and solutions to help resolve social issues. 

Entrepreneurs with business plans to make the world a better place will have 90 seconds to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges at 6 p.m. tonight in the next-to-final round of the annual YouthBridge SEIC (Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Competition) in May Auditorium, Simon Hall, on the Danforth Campus.

A record number of aspiring entrepreneurs entered 45 ideas for new ventures in the annual Olin Cup business plan competition this fall. As the race toward $75,000 in seed money enters its last stage, seven finalists are crunching numbers and honing their plans for the crucial final presentation to judges in January.

Seven entrepreneurs enter the final round of the Olin Cup business plan competition this month as they vie for $75,000 in seed money. Ken Harrington, managing director of the Skandalaris Center, co-sponsor of the Olin Cup, emceed the recent “Elevator Pitch” event where 17 semi-finalists had two minutes each to present their business plans. The teams presented privately in front of 16 judges, then presented publicly in front of an audience. Harrington said, “the judges, audience, and I were very impressed with the quality of this year’s pitches and ideas. We look forward to the next phase in the competition and seeing their full business plans.” Winners will be announced in February. Video report on the competition included.

The Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition (SEIC) enters its fifth year with a new name in recognition of a St. Louis community foundation. The competition offers mentoring, business advice and workshops for social enterprise start-ups. Contestants in the seven month-long competition must pass several hurdles before investment awards, totaling thousands of dollars, are announced next spring for the most promising ventures.

The largest award pool for social entrepreneurship in the U.S. was split five ways on April 23, 2009 when winners of the Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition were announced at Washington University in St. Louis. The five finalists were chosen from an original field of 42 entrants and represent diverse ventures with missions to provide educational and cultural and vocational training.

An on-line tutoring service and a device designed to make custom-fit earphones are the winners of the 2008 Olin Cup competition for entrepreneurs presented by the Olin Business School and Skandalaris Center at Washington University in St. Louis. The two winning companies, Virtual Nerd and Verto, emerged from an original field of 38 entrants to earn a $70,000 investment award and a $5000 cash prize respectively.

Seed money for a start-up company totaling $70,000 will be awarded tonight when the winner of the annual Olin Cup investment prize is announced at 6 p.m. in Graham Chapel on the Washington University campus.

Steven C. Hause, Ph.D., senior scholar in the Humanities at Washington University in St. Louis, has received the Innovative Entrepreneurship Education Course Award from the U.S. Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship for his course, “Economic History and Entrepreneurialism in Modern Western Civilization.”