Four Eugene locals developed a 21st-century business plan, traveled overseas pitching it to investors, and conferenced with all-stars of the entrepreneurial circuit. And they’re still in graduate school.
University graduate students Corey Bowers, Enis Iplikci, Jinn Issarachaikul and Deborah Marshall won third place this month at an international business plan competition in Hong Kong. Team Armozyme was one of 13 accepted from a pool of 100 university applicants worldwide.
“It was incredible,” Marshall said. “Being able to meet these students and see what their programs are and exchange ideas – just that alone was fantastic. It’s definitely a hands-on real-time learning experience.”
The team created Armozyme, an enzyme enhancement company that would use a technology allowing enzymes to remain active for months and perform in harsh environments, improving the lives of diabetics. The enzymes would improve the accuracy of continuous glucose monitors, enabling them to become the standard in bloodless, painless and reliable diabetic care.
National competitions are a fairly common occurrence for the students, whose trips are sponsored by The Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship, located within the Charles H. Lundquist College of Business. Team Armozyme attended national competitions in Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Portland this year. But international ones are a rarity.
Not only do the students use each competition as an opportunity to improve their product, they expand their cultural horizons and broaden their world views.
“When you meet with all of these different schools from around the world and you meet the students, you learn about how people in different parts of the world think about things,” said Don Upson, Armozyme’s faculty adviser.
Upson accompanied Armozyme to the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology 2007 International Business Plan Competition. The team arrived three days early to explore the city, and one of the members was already familiar with the city.
Issarachaikul, originally from Thailand, was more than willing to show her fellow teammates around. Her parents even flew in for an “early Mother’s Day.”
Issarachaikul said a highlight of the competition was meeting international students from places like London, Canada and China. Social networking activities organized by the competition host only enhance the experience.
“These students will now be better equipped to live in that kind of world because of a trip like this,” said Upson. “(These experiences are) really useful particularly for these students who are going to be living in a much flatter world than their advisers grew up in.”
Upson said rapid development in communication technology has enabled people to interact in ways that have never before been possible. It’s as easy to work with people around the world as with people around the block, he said.
In preparation for the Hong Kong competition, team Armozyme modified its plan to make it more “Asia-relevant.”
Although the business plan has yet to be launched, Marshall said it’s a viable plan in which judges have expressed interest. One judge in Hong Kong even obtained a copy of the plan with the intention of passing it on to some potential investors.
Upson said team Armozyme is an exceptional group of students that has continuously developed its plan without a lot of guidance – just a little direction.
“It was a group of some of the finest M.B.A. students that we’ve ever had,” Upson said.
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