PROVIDENCE – With the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition today announcing its 2009 finalists, six would-be businesses are one step closer to gaining at least partial funding.
The finalists – three entrepreneur groups and three student groups – are competing for a total of about $130,000 in cash and “in-kind services.” The winner in each category will receive $45,000, with the runner-ups receiving $10,000.
The winners will be announced during the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce Business Expo at the Rhode Island Convention Center on May 5.
Entrepreneur finalists:
• Asphalt Shingle Recycling, from Barrington’s Dan Horton: A plan that would simplify the recycling process for asphalt shingles, encouraging roofers to make recycling a standard procedure.
• BioIntraface Inc., from East Providence’s David Spencer: Proprietary anti-infection technology, aimed at stopping infections caused by medical devices.
• Sidekicks, from Middletown’s Jon Smyth: A forearm crutch “emphasizing ability instead of disability,” which could help boost self-esteem.
Student finalists:
• Blink LLC, from Eunice Png: Stain- and leak-resistant underwear to prevent menstrual spills.
• Minds in Motion Electronics EEG Toys Company, from Max Lang: Technology that would introduce the electroencephalography technique into interactive gaming.
• Runa, from Daniel MacCombie: An energy drink company that makes its product from a tree indigenous to the Amazon rainforest. The drink would create “nutritious, sustained energy … without the jitters or crash of energy drinks or coffee.”
The finalists were culled from a list of 12 semifinalists, which were announced April 14.
Competition co-chair Garrett B. Hunter, president of The Business Development Company of Rhode Island , in a statement said all the plans were of a “very high caliber.” Johnson & Wales University College of Business Dean David Mitchell added that even those who didn’t make the cut should “actively pursue their ideas, as each plan that was reviewed has very attractive features and potential to become a good business in Rhode Island.”
Additional information about the 2009 Rhode Island Business Plan Competition – including contest rules and guidelines, application procedures and business-planning resources – is available from the nonprofit Business Development Company of Rhode Island (BCDRI) at www.ri-bizplan.com.
So, the economy in Rhode Island is tanking, unemployment is skyrocketing, no one cane get loans, and the state is in dire need of sustainable economic development. That said, why are ideas related to women’s underwear and energy drinks being funded? How will these ideas benefit Rhode Island in the long run? Is this sustainable economic development founded on solid 21st century ideas? What a colossal joke.