Drexel University LeBow College Student Named College Entrepreneur of the Year by Entrepreneur Magazine
Being named College Entrepreneur of the Year is an immense honor, I plan to use this opportunity to take 3SecondReceipts to the next level.”
Philadelphia (Vocus/PRWEB ) December 18, 2009 — Bradley Ericson, a student at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business, was named Entrepreneur magazine’s 2009 College Entrepreneur of the Year, the magazine announced today. Ericson is co-founder and CEO of 3SecondReceipts LLC, a company developing a platform to create manageable, itemized digital receipts to replace traditional thermal paper receipts.
News Image
Ericson will receive a grand prize that includes $5,000 in start-up capital, the cover story of Entrepreneur’s January 2010 issue, and a follow-up article in 2011 about his business’ progress.
“Being named College Entrepreneur of the Year is an immense honor,” Ericson says. “I plan to use this opportunity to take 3SecondReceipts to the next level. I also want to thank LeBow College of Business and the Laurence A. Baiada Center for Entrepreneurship for preparing me with the skills I need to successfully run my business. Without Drexel I really believe my business would not have had the growth and success it has today.”
Ericson came up with the idea for 3SecondReceipts LLC while dining at Drexel University’s Ross Commons. “I was ordering a slice of pizza with my Drexel meal plan. Being a freshman I had an unlimited meal plan, but was still provided with a printed paper receipt that was supposed to tell me how many meals I had left. This receipt was instantly thrown away,” Ericson said, “and I realized there had to be a better way to reduce this paper wastage.” From there, Ericson spent months researching a better solution to paper receipts and subsequently created a business plan.
During the next three months, Ericson will be traveling to Europe to meet with international digital receipt companies. He says he is also focused on placing in Drexel’s 2010 Business Plan competition, so that he can vie for office space in the Baiada Center’s Business Incubator and work on his business full time over the next year.
According to the magazine’s publisher, thousands of entries poured in for Entrepreneur’s competition, which included three categories: Established Entrepreneur of the Year, Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year, and College Entrepreneur of the Year. Contestants were narrowed to 15 finalists – five for each category – before Entrepreneur handed the voting over to its magazine and Web readers who voted online for their favorite business ideas. Voting ended in mid-October.
Originally from Bergen County, N.J., Bradley Ericson is a sophomore at LeBow College of Business studying marketing and entrepreneurship. He is vice president of the Drexel Entrepreneur Association and a member of the Drexel Economics Society, Drexel Marketing Association, Dean’s Student Advisory Board, and Phi Beta Lambda business fraternity.
Learn more about 3SecondReceipts at www.3SecondReceipts.com.
About Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business
Recognized by BusinessWeek, Entrepreneur-Princeton Review, Financial Times, and U.S.News & World Report for superior programs, Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business empowers, enriches and inspires future business leaders through an innovative, strategic approach to business education in its master’s, bachelor’s and doctoral programs. LeBow College is accredited by AACSB International—the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Ranked by U.S.News & World Report as one of the best national doctoral universities, Drexel is one of fewer than 30 private universities classified by The Carnegie Foundation as Research Universities (high research activity).
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact Lisa Litzinger, Assistant Director of Communications, LeBow College of Business, at 215.895.2897 or lml64(at)drexel(dot)edu
Austin Hochstatter, Finalist for the TCU Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Award
Austin Hochstatter, 18-year-old co-founder and Vice President of Production, is selected out of more than 80 applicants to vie for Texas Christian University’s Texas Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
Austin, Texas (PRWEB) December 17, 2009 — As one Central Texas’ newest film and video production firms, Watch Your Head Productions charges into the limelight with its co-founder’s selection to the TCU Texas Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Award scholarship competition. Winners will be announced in February 2010.
Despite the worst economic downturn in recent memory, Watch Your Head Productions launched in mid-2009 intent on serving two core opportunities: 1) provide economically viable alternatives to expensive film production services - serving individuals and small businesses, and 2) pursue a deep passion for filmmaking and storytelling. Even in falling markets, businesses must continue to reach their customers in a rich and engaging way. Watch Your Head secured its first small business client inside of one month of launching.
“I discovered this elite scholarship while applying to TCU’s Film-TV-Digital Media program earlier this Fall,” says Austin Hochstatter, co-founder and Vice President of Production. “I selected TCU as one of my top choices because of their well-known Film-TV-Digital Media program, and I was surprised to find that my new production business could qualify for this award. So I immediately applied – and crossed my fingers.”
Watch Your Head has professional film and video production capabilities that rival the largest production houses in Central Texas. The team has been assembling high-end gear and honing their expertise over the last 10 years. They are experienced in the latest from Final Cut Studio Pro, Avid Media Composer, Adobe Creative Suite, Cinema 4D, and Panasonic HVX line of HD cameras, among others.
“As you can imagine, we are beyond thrilled that Austin is considered for this award,” says Susan Hochstatter, President of Watch Your Head and mother of the recipient. “The process is a wonderful opportunity for all young entrepreneurs to showcase their hard work and early business successes.”
About The TCU Entrepreneur of the Year Awards
The TCU Texas Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Award Program is a scholarship program that recognizes young high school age entrepreneurs for their success in business. The award is open to any Texas high school student who has started and managed a business.
Learn more at: www.tcuyeya.org
About Watch Your Head Productions
Watch Your Head Productions is one of Austin’s premier film and video production houses. Started in 2009 by two brothers, Austin and Chase Hochstatter, Watch Your Head offers comprehensive production services using the latest HD equipment along with state-of-the-art post production software and production techniques.
Watch Your Head is an approved Time Warner Cable reseller and an Approved Filmmaker for the Small Business video marketing site www.turnhere.com.
Find us at www.watchyourheadproductions.com or call 512-917-6694
Young Entrepreneur Builds a Company that Helps Small Business Owners Survive
PITTSBURGH, PA December 04, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ — Young, fearless and laid off, Danielle Cuomo was 23 and about to start a company that would change the way business owners worked. Every year, nearly a million people start their own business, and only 50,000 make it. The odds were against her, with the Great Recession and high unemployment, so she decided if she could not find a way, she would make one of her own.
The goal of most people with an entrepreneurial yearning is to make it big after putting in 10 or 15 years of sacrifice, sweat, tears. She was determined to come out of the gate running and in fact, she had to. She had no fall back plan. That kind of urgency is certain to make it a little more daunting.
The company she created on the dining room table of her 1-bedroom apartment, Virtual Assist USA, uses a high-tech, cost-effective approach to gives busy business owners the opportunity to work on their business and not just in it. A one-stop-shop for business needs including marketing, search engine optimization, cold calling, sales, public relations, bookkeeping, social networking, customer support and administrative assistance a Virtual Assistant allows a business owner to outsource their business functions. It is all virtual owners do not have to create space and provide equipment for someone in their office and, for those that are working from home, they still have the opportunity to have an incredibly talented team to conduct business for them. The business owner is left to focus on the company’ s bottom line, and not whether they remembered to Tweet or thinking about getting around to creating a newsletter. Additionally, Cuomo’ s company slashes typical employment fees in half by using independent contractors and eliminating employee benefits, equipment costs, office space, paid vacation, payroll taxes and even the time spent on coffee breaks.
Virtual Assist USA grew to 50+ clients and 10 employees in just 6 months.”I am so proud to be an American, where starting a business on your own, at such a young age, with no real capital, is possible, says Cuomo. She relied on no one to bail her out, and received unbelievable success. She was innovative and hardworking, and with virtually no advertising or marketing budget, still found ways to get her name in front of people. She used her expertise in social media and search engine optimization to provide publications with free articles, if they would site her name. She negotiated with a printer to give her free business cards and brochures. She utilized the free consulting resources at the Small Business Administration. Instead of expensive gifts for her clients, she baked cookies for them.
About Virtual Assist USA
She now enjoys a wildly successful business, with hardworking employees and thriving clients. She enjoys a truly international presence with clients in Canada, Australia, Israel, England and Ireland. Her clients range from CEOs to soccer moms, best-selling authors to small e-commerce shops. But, she still bakes the homemade cookies.
65,000 Students To Attend Insken Programmes Next Year
MELAKA, Dec 11 (Bernama) — The National Entrepreneurship Institute (Insken) expects 40,000 school and 25,000 university students to attend its entrepreneurship acculturation programmes next year.
Insken would also hold entrepreneurship courses for the One District One Industry (SDSI) participants, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said on Friday.
“On the whole, the plan for 2010 is to have some 70,000 Malaysians acculturated with the concept of entrepreneurship through 38 programmes run by Insken,” he said at the opening of the SDSI Showcase at Melaka International Trade Centre by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin here.
As of July, 4,634 people were involved in the SDSI programme with 3,279 of them in the homestay industry, 747 producing handicraft, 567 in food and drink, 26 in health products and 15 in services, he said.
The quality of most of their products and services could be enhanced through the ministry’s grooming programme, he added.
On the three-day SDSI Showcase, Mustapa said the ministry expected the 537 exhibitors to record cash sales in excess of RM1 million. Last year’s event recorded RM961,000 in sales.
“The value of sales contracts is expected to exceed RM50 million. Some 700 business-matching sessions will also be held,” Mustapa said.
The showcase is expected to draw 70,000 visitors.
Winning ideas in 1,000 Pitches competition announced
The nine winners were announced at a ceremony on Saturday. During the two-month contest, students from across campus submitted 2,165 ideas for new products, businesses or social ventures. Organizers believe it is the largest pitch contest in the world.
“Changing the state will start with great ideas, and that’s what this competition is about,” says Thomas Zurbuchen, associate dean for entrepreneurial programs at the College of Engineering. “The entrepreneurial spirit at Michigan is growing in scope and depth and this is truly amazing.”
Students competed in nine categories: environmental, social entrepreneurship, global business, green campus, health, local business, Michigan matters, high-tech and best iPhone app. This is the second year of 1,000 Pitches, which is organized by the student group MPowered Entrepreneurship.
The winners are:
Health: Whitney Hovan, a graduate engineering student, and her colleagues pitched a new medical device that improves upon the current methods of removing blood clots in stroke victims. Their device includes a separator to break up the clot, a suctioning device to remove the pieces and a net to stop them from traveling into the brain. Several neurosurgeons have agreed to mentor the students, whose company is called Emboless.
Best iPhone app: Liying Huang, a junior business student, imagines a coupon application that allows shoppers to scan a barcode and receive manufacturer’s coupons on their smartphones. Quick Coupons would be a coupon database and an interactive search engine that learns a shopper’s preferences and provides discounts on competing as well as complimentary products. Shoppers would scan their phones at the register to receive their discounts.
Green campus: Daniel Forhan, a sophomore engineering student, wants to turn used vegetable oil from the university’s cafeterias into biodiesel for campus buses. He estimates that this could save $40,000 per year after a refiner is purchased.
Social entrepreneurship: David Sheng, a junior engineering student, has a low-cost solution for people without clean water in developing nations. His “cheap water condenser kit” condenses water from the air and drips it into a basin.
Environment: Md. Shahnoor Amin, a graduate student in engineering, proposes a portable energy solution for developing countries. A native of Bangladesh, he remembers studying long hours under a kerosene lamp because there was no electricity for miles. His company, June Energy, is developing a portable solar-powered device that costs $10 per household and could provide lighting at night and electricity for small electronics such as cell phones.
High-tech: Hannah Selonick, a sophomore engineering major, pitched a vibrating metronome to help musicians keep time while they’re playing. A violinist, Selonick says it’s sometimes hard to hear her conventional metronome over the music. Her vibrating version could be worn on the arm to help musicians feel the beat. It would include a sync feature so members of an ensemble could set theirs to the same rhythm.
Michigan matters: Allen Kim, a junior engineering major, conceives of the Renewable Energy Science Foundation. This government-funded institute would leverage the state’s natural gas and wind resources and advanced battery technology to attract more renewable energy entrepreneurs. He asks the state’s legislators to propose an industrial development act to alleviate state business taxes for renewable energy entrepreneurs.
Global business: Eleanor Pryser, a freshman engineering major, came up with “ear buddies,” ear plugs with a built-in alarm clock. Designed for use in noisy environments, they could block out snores or your roommate’s alarm clock. They could also be used if you didn’t want your alarm to bother others in the area.
Local business: Tim Lewis, a junior business major, envisions Annarbortonight.com, an Ann Arbor entertainment and nightlife news Web site. Bars, restaurants and other destinations and venues would post information for free, though they would be encouraged to buy ads to get their information highlighted. Reviewers could write about and rate the different destinations.
MPowered students chose 10 finalists in each category, then an expert in the field of each category chose the winner. Each winner received a $1,000 prize.
“I think this was an extremely successful competition,” says MPowered President Lauren Leland. “We accomplished our mission of making students excited about entrepreneurship, and that’s important. Entrepreneurship can inspire people to take risks, find their best potential and enact real change.”
