The Kean University Business Plan Competition is organized by the Kean School of Management and Marketing in the College of Business and Public Management. The competition encourages students to think innovatively and learn more about creating a business plan. This year’s competition was held on Dec 4. at 9 a.m., via Zoom.

The competition is funded by the Kean Office of the Provost and the Vice President of Academic Affairs, and the event would not be possible without them. The judges for this year’s competition were Jeonghwan (Jerry) Choi, Jennifer Costa, Eric J. Cruz, Ryan Cruz,  Harry Menta and Raja Roy.

Students from Kean and participating universities, as well as some high school students, were encouraged to participate in the competition which consists of creating a unique business plan and presenting it to a panel of judges. The students were able to work in teams with a maximum of three members. 

Through this competition, students were able to develop many skills, such as working on a team, learning more about product development, understanding how to build a business plan, how to enhance their public speaking skills and more.

The event began with opening remarks from Lamont O. Repollet, Ed.D., President of Kean University, followed by Jin Wang, Ph.D., Dean of the Kean University College of Business and Public Management.

The business plan presentations followed, during which students showcased the business concepts they've worked on. The judges then deliberated, and there was also audience voting and trivia questions to keep the crowd engaged.

Following, the winners were awarded by Jeffrey Toney, Ph.D. For the high school students who applied through DECA, the finalists were as follows:

• First Place ($1,200): CampusConnect by Valeri Guevarra, Allison Lounsbury, Jennifer Mason

• Second Place ($400): PureBred Sneakers by Dylan Chung and Nathan Lee

For the category of college students, the winners awarded were as follows:

• First Place ($3,000): PlannEd-u by Jose Rodriguez, Mark Gaglioti and Daniel Ojeda

• Second Place ($1,500): BestBiddy by Peter Hannon, Eunbi Kim and Matthew Seesselberg

• Third Place ($1,000): DoorStep by Brendan Steckler and Christopher Jackson

• Fourth Place ($900): Absolute Sports by Brendan Brush and Brian Gural

• Fifth Place ($800): Green Sharing by Jiahui Cong, Zhengyu Feng and Haoxuan Li

The Finalist Prize of $300 each was presented to each of the following teams:

• Love Every Flaw by Tyshiana Johnson

• Pro Silver Care by Huiyan Mu, Zhengqing Yuan and Fangke Wan

• Vnect by Ao Jiang, Zijin Huang and Xingyu Chen

The Participation Prize of $100 each was also presented to the following teams:

• Aroma Universal by Victoria Vitale

• Mavis by Zixuan Sun, Jialing Xu and Xiayu Xu

• Suitcase Studios by Chris Zwatschka

The competition was a great event for students to collaborate towards while growing their skills for the business world.