Overview

The UC Center for Entrepreneurship Education & Research is pleased to announce that the University of Cincinnati  and Cincom Systems will be hosting the 2009 UC Spirit of Enterprise MBA Business Plan Competition 26-27 February, 2009. The competition will be held in Cincinnati, Ohio at the World Headquarters of Cincom Systems, Inc. This is a great venue not only in which to compete, but to see one of the great entrepreneurial success stories in the software industry and network with the founder, Mr. Tom Nies.

The event will commence at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 26th with a Team Exhibit, evening reception for guest teams, followed by a tech check in preparation for the next day's presentations. On Friday, February 27th, the UC Spirit of Enterprise Competition will kick off at 8:00 a.m. and continue through 5:00 p.m., at which point the awards reception/dinner will be held.  The evening will conclude approx. 8 to 8:30 p.m.

Participating teams will have multiple opportunities to present their new venture concepts and receive feedback from esteemed judges and entrepreneurs. All teams will compete in the morning preliminary rounds, with the final four advancing to the Championship Round where they will compete for the $10,000 Cincom Spirit of Enterprise Award. The remaining teams will move on to the UC Taxi /LimoCompetition. The UC Taxi/Limo Competition, will give teams a ten minute limo ride mirroring a chance encounter with a potential angel investor. Cash prizes will be awarded to those teams who convince him/her of their business plan viability - before the ride comes to a halt.

Awards for this year's competition are projected to be over $20,000, with first place being the $10,000 Cincom Spirit of Enterprise Champion Prize and an automatic bid to the 2009 MOOT CORP® Competition. Other cash prizes will be allotted to the second and third place recipients of the Finalist Round, first place in the UC Taxi/Limo Competition, and the winner of the Best Technology Plan.

All schools wishing to participate in the 2009 Spirit of Enterprise Competition must submit the Intent to Compete from by the due date below.

Key Dates for UC Spirit of Enterprise MBA Business Plan Competition

We hope you will be able to join us this February to participate with other top universities from across the nation, and to join us in supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs in their passion to excel.

For more information, please contact the UC Center for Entrepreneurship Education and Research at ecenter@business.uc.edu.