November 21, 2005
Finalists to compete in Purdue-Lilly Endowment biz plan competition
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Finalists have been named in the $50,000 Opportunity for Indiana Business Plan Competition, sponsored by the Lilly Endowment, Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship and Purdue Research Park.
The five finalists will make business plan presentations and respond to a panel of judges' questions beginning at 8 a.m. Nov. 30 in the Purdue Technology Center, located in the Purdue Research Park, 3000 Kent Ave. Presentations will wrap up at noon, and the awards reception will take place at 2 p.m. Purdue President Martin C. Jischke will be the featured speaker at the awards ceremony.
In addition to the West Lafayette competition, there also are competitions in Kettler Hall at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne on Nov. 29 and the Library Student Faculty Building at Purdue North Central in Westville, Ind., on Dec. 1.
"The entrants' business plans this year took a step up in precision and sophistication," said Don Blewett, associate director of the Burton D. Morgan Center. "We're expecting a spirited competition."
The finalists in the West Lafayette competition are:
– Agri Processing Services LLC, a West Lafayette company that plans to manufacture and market to food-processing plants a patented chemical compound to treat wastewater more cost effectively and environmentally than current methods available. One of the team members making the Agri Processing Services presentation is Timothy Ortman.
– En'Urga Inc., a Purdue Research Park company that researches, designs, develops, installs and calibrates optical diagnostic equipment that measures gas concentrations, temperatures, emissions and particulates for efficient and environmentally friendly energy use. One of the team members making En'Urga's presentation is Yudaya Sivathanu.
– Seyet LLC, a Purdue Research Park company that uses proprietary software to create animations to depict microscopic phenomena used by the pharmaceutical industry to understand spatial and temporal effects of given interactions. One of the team members making Seyet's presentation is Jim Bartek.
– SFI Systems, a Purdue Research Park company that designs and distributes software for creating and tracking data, information and specifications for entertainment lighting. One of the team members making SFI Systems' presentation is Chris Aiello.
– Tot Shots Photography, based in northwest Indiana, specializes in taking photographs of babies within 24 hours of their birth. Crystal Hoover will make the presentation for Tot Shots.
Prizes are $25,000 for first place, $15,000 for second and $10,000 for third. Fourth place wins $2,000, and fifth takes home $1,000.
The competitions were open to Indiana startups and businesses that want to expand. Entrants from outside Indiana can enter if they locate within the state.
Judges for the West Lafayette competition are William Hingst, Mid American Beverages of Kokomo; Gail Koehler, Purdue Employees Federal Credit Union; Monty Korte, Ernst & Young LLC, Indianapolis; Eric Murphy, Murphy/Reader Associates, West Lafayette; Kevin Potter, Shiel Sexton, Indianapolis; Rick Spykman, Stuart and Branigin LLP; and Daniel T. Moriarity, Shenkel Shultz Architecture, Indianapolis.
The Lilly Endowment funds used to sponsor the competition are part of a $3.5 million, three-year Opportunity for Indiana grant, which aims to provide more opportunities and good jobs for graduates of the state's colleges, universities, technical schools and high schools. This is the second year of the competition.
Quadraspec, last year's winner, is a West Lafayette Purdue Research Park company that plans to commercialize patented BioCD technology that enables blood to be screened to detect disease. The technology was developed at Purdue by physics professor David Nolte.
Writer: Mike Lillich, (765) 494-2077, mlillich@purdue.edu
Sources: Don Blewett, (765) 494-4485, blewett@purdue.edu
Timothy Ortman, Agri Processing Services LLC, aps1436@aol.com
Yudaya Sivathanu, En'Urga Inc., sivathan@enurga.com
Jim Bartek: Seyet LLC, bartek@seyet.com
Chris Aiello, SFI Systems, caiello@sfisystems.com
Crystal Hoover, Tots Shots Photography, crystalannh@aol.com
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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