Governor’s Cup Finalists Named

Finalists and semifinalists in the 13th annual Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup Collegiate Business Plan Competition were announced March 13.

Graduate and undergraduate teams will present their plans to Arkansas business leaders at The Chancellor Hotel in Fayetteville April 4. Teams make a 20-minute oral presentation followed by 15 minutes of questions.

Teams will compete for $154,000 in cash prizes, which will be awarded April 10 at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock. The top two graduate and undergraduate teams then will compete in a Tri-State Competition in Las Vegas against teams from Oklahoma and Nevada for a slice of a $118,000 pie.

Several students have used the competition as a springboard to open their own businesses. The winners of the 2008 Cup, Stan Zylowski and April Seggebruch, turned their idea into Movista, LLC, a company that sells app-driven software that allows companies to monitor the activities and results of outside field staff. The company signed its first contract in February 2012 with Tempur-Pedic and now has four national customers, 17 full-time employees, and three part-timers. It expects $2.5 million in revenues this year.

The Governor’s Cup is managed by The Arkansas Economic Acceleration Foundation, an affiliate of The Arkansas Capital Corporation Group. Talk Business is a Chairman-level sponsor for the competition.

The semi-finalists and finalists are:

Undergraduate Innovation Finalists
LifeB – Harding University
Nat Gas Solution – University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
Practical Homecare Device – John Brown University

Graduate Innovation Finalists
EverClean Coating Solutions, LLC – University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
HomeDx – University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
Iso Labs – Harding University

Undergraduate Agriculture Finalists
ARAquaFarm, LLC – Arkansas State University, Jonesboro
Catch-22 – University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Smart Feeder – Harding University
Smart Soil – John Brown University

Undergraduate Semi-Finalists
50/50 One Eighty – University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
Aerial Advantage Photography Services – Henderson State University
AgWell, Inc. – Harding University
Catch-22 – University of Arkansas at Little Rock
eScout – Ouachita Baptist University
Innovative Medical Sensor Tech – Harding University
MedBase – Harding University
Practical Homecare Devices – John Brown University
Smart Feeder – Harding University
Smart Soil – John Brown University
Stuffed Burritos – Ouachita Baptist University
TrustedWills.com – Ouachita Baptist University

Graduate Finalists
EverClean Coating Solutions, LLC – University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
HomeDx – University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
Iso Labs – Harding University
MitoGene, LLC – University of Arkansas at Little Rock
ParadigMed, LLC – University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
Picasolar – University of Arkansas at Fayetteville