April 23, 2012
Student teams to compete for JH Business Plan prize money
The nationally recognized Johns Hopkins University Business Plan Competition, hosted by the Whiting School of Engineering’s Center for Leadership Education, provides an opportunity for students to take a novel idea or innovative technology and develop a business plan based around it. Starting with a concept, students build an understanding of their target market, analyze potential competitors, craft an effective market-entry strategy and present their plans to industry professionals and venture capitalists. The business plans include information on the need for a product or service, the range of potential customers, competition in the marketplace and how the company will be financed and will ultimately turn a profit.
On Friday, April 27, teams from seven JHU divisions will have about 15 minutes to present oral and PowerPoint summaries of their plans and to answer questions from the judges.
The presentations and judging will take place from 1:30 to 5 p.m. in rooms 210 (general business category), 213 (life sciences) and 216 (social enterprises) of Homewood’s Hodson Hall. Winners will be announced during a dinner and awards ceremony, to be held from 5 to 7 p.m., featuring guest speaker Kevin Joseph, president and CEO of West Chester Hospital and senior vice president for UC Health in West Chester, Ohio.
Joseph is a 1996 graduate of Johns Hopkins, having earned bachelor’s degrees in biomedical engineering, psychology and materials science. He joined West Chester Hospital as medical director of emergency medicine before the hospital opened in 2009, and that same year was named one of the Cincinnati Business Courier’s Forty Under 40.
The goal of the competition is to provide students a venue to organize and present their ideas in a professional, competitive and educational setting, and to encourage students to apply these ideas, concepts and products to develop enterprises and career opportunities.
The teams represent the Whiting School of Engineering, the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, the Carey Business School, the School of Medicine, the Bloomberg School of Public Health, the School of Education and SAIS.
The prizes in each category are: $6,000 (first place), $4,000 (second place), $2,000 (third place) and $250 (runners-up).