ASU Team Wins First Place In Governor’s Cup Business Plan Competition

A missed dinner with family provided the inspiration for an Arkansas State University graduate student to create a potentially revolutionary product.

That product was the reason that several Arkansas State University business students won first place and $25,000 in a statewide business idea competition on Wednesday.

The group, Agricultural Innovations, also received $5,000 for winning the Delta Plastics Innovation Award at the same event.

The students – Josh Baker, Justin Bagley, Frank Kelley, Dirk Tanner and Kenneth Rains – received first place in the Graduate category at the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup Wednesday in Little Rock.

The group will head to Las Vegas to participate in a competition against schools from Nevada and Oklahoma. The Governor’s Cup business plan competition is supported by the Arkansas Economic Acceleration Foundation, a subsidiary of the Arkansas Capital Corp.

Josh Baker, who grew up in Hubbard, Ohio, said the idea started one Sunday after church.

Baker said his father-in-law, a farmer, could not go to dinner with his family because he had to work on irrigation wells.

Thus, the idea sprouted.

“It is a solar-powered, sensor-driven automated irrigation system,” Baker said of the product called WellsVision. “It will allow you to do it from the comfort of your home or through wireless.”

Baker said an app was set up to allow the work to be done from a mobile device.

The product is geared toward farmers with at least 500 acres of land and who farm in multiple counties, Baker said.

The product has gone through significant research and development.

Baker said he analyzed the market and has looked for ways to improve the product.

“It will give the farmer a total picture, both present and into the future,” Baker said of the information the product will glean.

The product is currently in a test phase, while a fully functioning prototype is expected to be in the field by the end of June.

As for distribution rights, Baker said the idea is possible but that the group is focused on helping farmers.

“But our relationship with farmers is key. It will be designed that way to help farmers when they need us the most,” Baker said.

The group started with a premise of what to do, received the financial backing and is now working on field testing and software development, Baker added.

Also, Baker said he has received good feedback from farmers including family that have used the product.

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Arkansas State University has participated in the Governor’s Cup since 2005.

Dr. Erick Chang, an associate professor of management in the Department of Management and Marketing, said nearly 50 business plans were presented by college students from around the state.

There were two other ASU teams that were successful.

Saf-Tech won the Graduate AT&T Elevator Pitch Award and $2,000.

The team – made up of ASU-Beebe graduates Dustin Lavender and Lillian Bryant and ASU-Beebe students Amanda Barton-Smith and Pam English – developed a device used to block calls and texting, college officials said.

A third group, Grand Prairie Husk, also created a smokeless tobacco alternative from re-purposed rice husks.

That team was made up of Lindsey Cole, Alex Reid and Seth Moore.

This year marked the first ASU teams have won, Chang said, noting teams from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville have won first, second and third place in all categories for many years.

Chang said participating in the contest has also helped students with learning in class.

A business plan class at ASU has no tests or outside assignments, but Chang said students get an opportunity to build upon their ideas.

“I give them general themes and they use the class to build their business plan,” Chang said.

A major focus is also on teaching college freshmen how to build a business plan, Chang said.

Baker said he has learned a lot from being in Chang’s class, particularly learning about marketing and research.

“A business plan, it is practical application on real world experience,” Baker said. “Dr. Chang and Dr. Shane Hunt (dean of the College of Business) have done a lot for us.”

Baker said the college has been pushing the idea of entrepreneurship hard, especially among students.

“Starting a business is scary for anybody. It does not matter if you are Steve Jobs or an Arkansas State University graduate student,” Baker said. “We are rising economically … It shows what we have learned that the opportunity is second to none.”