Two teams from the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts earned recognition in the 2021 Arkansas Governor’s Cup Collegiate Business Plan competition, including being the first high school team to place in the top three in a division.
Apollo, a team comprised of juniors Andreas Bradley of Jacksonville and Isaiah Jellenik of Conway, won third place overall in the Small Business Division. This was the first time that a high school team placed in one of the top three spots of the competition. ASMSA has had teams qualify for the finals in the previous three years, but none of them placed in the top three.
A second ASMSA team — Small Talks, comprised of juniors Stephanie Kilburn of Benton, Louis Reagler of Hot Springs and Stacia Toney of Eudora — were also selected among the six finalists for the division. Small Talks won the Elevator Pitch competition for the Small Business Division.
Other finalists in the Small Business Division included teams from Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, Central Baptist College in Conway and the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
The winners were announced April 8 during a virtual banquet. Apollo won $5,000 for its place in the overall category. Small Talks won $2,000 in the Elevator Pitch competition.
“I am so proud of what these students have achieved,” said Steve Rice, an entrepreneurship instructor at ASMSA who served as adviser to both teams. “It would be remarkable under any circumstances, but the fact that they did it in the middle of a global pandemic speaks not only to their academic dedication but their discipline and focus.”
Teams in the competition develop and present plans for a new business to provide products and services not offered to a specific audience or a plan to improve or replace current business processes to increase efficiency or productivity, thus adding value to existing products, services and markets.
In previous years, the competition included an undergraduate and a graduate school division. This year, competition organizers developed two new categories to replace the previous ones. The Small Business Division was for business plans that are more “Main Street,” customer-facing operations. The High Growth/Technology Division was for business plans with unique ideas and technologies that demonstrate a potentially disruptive market impact with strong viability and high potential for growth, according to the competition’s website.
Apollo’s business plan focused on a way to provide specific information on how to prevent injuries in college athletics. Bradley and Jellenik said they were inspired to explore the topic because both are athletes and have a love for athletics.
“Since Isaiah and I are both athletes, we thought it would be best to focus our project on them,” Bradley said. “Our project was about preventing injuries in the NCAA, potentially saving colleges $1.1 billion.”
Jellenik said he and Bradley interviewed around 35 collegiate athletes from across the country for specific challenges they faced. The answer most often shared were injury problems.
“Our idea is a bimonthly informational newsletter provided by physical therapists to help athletes prevent injuries,” Jellenik said.
Jellenik said they felt good about their chances of placing in the competition after their presentation in the finals. “Andreas and I worked tirelessly from the end of last semester until last Friday to ensure everything was polished and ready for competition, so we can say we came prepared,” Jellenik said.
When they heard their team name announced during the banquet, they were both very excited. Bradley said he was jumping up and down pumping his fist. Jellenik said he was sitting quietly in disbelief at first. “I wrapped him up in a bear hug, and we shared a great moment of accomplishment,” Jellenik said.
Small Talks’ business plan focused on providing financial consulting services for small business owners. One of the top reasons small businesses close is because they mismanage their finances and cash flow, the team said.
“We started this project with an idea that legal expenses were a problem for most businesses,” Reagler said. “Through interviews and research, we narrowed that down to operation costs and responsibilities to cash flow and finances. We created a business that will connect small businesses and their owners to resources and people that can help them.”
Toney said the competition process was stressful at times, “mostly because everything was up to the judges, and there was no way of telling how they would interpret our idea.” Toney presented the elevator pitch for her team.
Reagler and Toney said they were both very excited when they heard the results. “I screamed with joy! I kept the biggest smile on my face for the remainder of the event,” Toney said.
This was the 21st year of the competition, which was presented by Arkansas Capital Corp. of Little Rock. The Small Business Division was sponsored by Winrock Automotive. The Elevator Pitch Competition was sponsored by Windstream. For more information on the competition, visit argovernorscup.org.