New Paltz business plan team advances to state competition

Four teams of SUNY New Paltz business students visited Marist College on April 7 to present at the Mid-Hudson Regional Business Plan Contest, and one of the teams will be advancing to the eighth annual New York Business Plan Competition, on April 28 in Albany, N.Y.

“I had the good fortune to be able to attend the competition at Marist, and I was just thrilled,” said Dean of the School of Business Kristin Backhaus. “Having a New Paltz presence at this event is critical to building the reputation and prestige of the School of Business. All four teams that represented our program were well prepared and professional and their projects were well conceived and feasible.”

The four entrepreneurial concepts presented by New Paltz students were:

• “Eddi,” presented by Nathanael Christain and Larry Brodetskiy, is an app that analyzes food shoppers’ purchasing behavior to generate custom grocery budgets and meal ideas;
• “Build Ur Style,” by Nicole Jacobsen, brings a new approach fashion clothing retail, selling the latest styles from a vehicle that can go directly to consumers;
• “Forte,” by Lawrence Nicastro, Kirsten Shaw, Dana Passadino, Kaitlyn DeTrinis, Roy Linam, and Jame Terotta, is a health food product that packs proteins into pasta; and
• “LifeForce,” presented by Reem Ahmed, Tina Lloyd and Vincent Oram with consulting from Johnathan Olivenca and Kristen O’Sullivan, is a high-tech medical device for rapidly detecting and reporting potential individual health issues.

In the end, the team presenting the concept for “LifeForce” was awarded the second place prize in the regional competition, earning them a spot at the state-wide Business Plan Competition Finals on April 28.

“Whether or not your team advanced, you should know that your performance and effort gave me great pride as a dean,” Backhaus said. “These are the moments that make my job truly rewarding. Thank you for being excellent ambassadors of our school, and congratulations to Reem, Vincent and Tina for advancing to the NYS finals.”

The School of Business’s own annual Business Plan Contest will be held on May 3. Learn more about the School of Business online.