News

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville students presented their business ideas during the 7^th annual “TheOther40” competition on Friday, April 7. The event featured presentations by the creators of eight businesses in a Shark Tank-like fashion to a panel of enterprise professionals, with MBA student Celeste Hughes taking first place for GAINZ by the Dozen.

The SIUE School of Business and the Entrepreneurs’ Club of SIUE hosted the competition. Since statistics show that around 60 percent of small businesses fail within the first five years, TheOther40 seeks to foster the success of the rest.

“TheOther40 competition offers students a unique opportunity to transform an idea into a business concept and present it to business experts,” said Tim Schoenecker, PhD, interim dean of the SIUE School of Business. “The objective is to provide students with the resources, skills and incentives to launch their businesses.

“This year’s competition featured impressive ideas from students studying a variety of disciplines, including management, computer science, engineering, mathematics and actuarial science, and business administration. This diverse group of student entrepreneurs demonstrated a breadth of talent and potential for future success.”

Winners of the 2017 “TheOther40” competition included:

• First place and $5,000: Riverton native Celeste Hughes, an MBA student, for GAINZ by the Dozen
  • GAINZ by the Dozen, is a protein donut company. Hughes plans for her company’s healthy product to be directly sold at fitness events such as CrossFit competitions, bodybuilding shows and 5K races.
• Second place and $3,000: Cagatay Bilgin, a senior industrial engineering major, for Beer Port
  • Beer Port will provide instant and affordable beer services to its customers using specifically designed vending machines.
• Third place (tie) and $1,000 (each): Waterloo native Zachary Cygan, a senior management major, for Patriot Pits Barbecue and Park City native Sarai Fuentes, a senior business administration major, for Sarai’s Personal Online Training.
  • Patriot Pits will cater small to medium sized parties using its own sauces, rubs and recipes.
  • Sarai’s Personal Online Training will offer workout challenges online in four or eight-week plans with workout videos, motivational videos, a nutrition guide and prizes for challenge winners.

“TheOther40 competition allowed me to put my passion into an actionable plan, and receive constructive criticism from business professionals on the feasibility of my business plan,” said Hughes. “I will graduate with my MBA in Spring 2018. Until then, my co-founder Brennan Malham and I plan to devote time into research and development to keep constantly innovating the recipe, flavors and other baked goods outside of the donuts.”

Remaining TheOther40 finalists were Jonathan Amwayi (Kulafood Company), Danielle Johnson (Cool Sounds), Eli Ball (Kitchen Table) and Stephanie Slayton (D.M. Groundwork Repair).

The 2017 panel of judges included Matthew Smith, of Polsinelli, Sandra Dowdy, of Brown Smith Wallace, and Ron Tanner, of Confluence Business Advisors.

Prize funding for TheOther40 is provided by John Martinson, MBA ’75 and member of the SIUE School of Business Hall of Fame.

Photo: SIUE School of Business Interim Dean Tim Schoenecker stands alongside first place winner of TheOther40 Celeste Hughes and GAINZ by the Dozen co-founder Brennan Malham.