Arkansas Businesses Will Benefit from Small Business Jobs Act of 2010

by

Substantial SBA loan product enhancements will be available

The Arkansas Capital Corporation Group’s Chief Executive Officer C. Sam Walls on Friday highlighted enhancements to the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 which will have the greatest impact on Arkansas’s small business owners. “These enhancements are the most impactful I’ve seen in my 20 years of working with government guaranteed lending,” Walls said. “These tools are meaningful in their ability to assist and encourage business owners to grow their enterprises.” ACCG offers an alternative source of financing for small business; the Group partners with banks across Arkansas to provide the most attractive financing package available to small business owners. Highlights of the enhancements include: [Read more…]

Businesses Advised to Plan Now for Disaster

by

A prepared business is a resilient business. That was the lesson learned this week at a daylong workshop teaching company owners how to plan for disasters. “The Verizon Preparedness Planning Summit: A Readiness Workshop for Small Businesses” drew about 100 representatives from small- and medium-sized businesses. Business owners discovered how susceptible their companies can be when disaster strikes, whether it takes the form of a flood, earthquake, tornado, fire or even terrorist activity. Verizon Wireless sponsored the event, held at the Holiday Inn University of Memphis, along with the Shelby County Office of Preparedness, the Greater Memphis Chamber and the Memphis Business Journal. [Read more…]

U of A Team Wins Prestigious Boston Business Plan Competition

by

A team of University of Arkansas students who created a business plan for a more efficient manufacturing process of solar cells has won first place at the Licensing Executives Society Foundation Graduate Student Business Plan Competition. The competition was held in Boston, Mass., on May 18, in conjunction with the Licensing Executives Society USA and Canada and Licensing Executives Society International annual meeting. The Silicon Solar Solutions LLC team won a cash prize of $10,000 and in-kind prizes provided by donors valued at $40,000. [Read more…]

AgRobotics Names Charles Mitchell New COO

by

AgRobotics has named Charles V. Michell, Jr., its president and COO, the North Little Rock firm announced Tuesday. AgRobotics, founded in 2006, manufactures and distributes the world’s first on-the-go soil sample collection technology. “We are very pleased to have someone as experienced and capable as Charles Michell join our management team at AgRobotics during this time of great opportunity and explosive growth potential in automated soil sampling,” said Jeffrey Burton, interim CEO. [Read more…]

UA Entrepreneurs Win Big at Tri – State Governor’s Cup in Las Vegas

by

Teams from the University of Arkansas earned top honors in the third-annual Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup tri-state business plan competition held May 21. The Arkansas teams were awarded first and second place in the graduate division, and first place in the undergraduate division, which included cash that can be used as funds to start their businesses. Faculty advisers also received cash awards. Top honors in the Tri-State competition went to: [Read more…]

BiologicsMD wins 2010 Global Moot Corp Competition

by

Global Moot Corp, tonight announced the Global Champion of its competition is BiologicsMD, a team from the University of Arkansas, developing a new prescription medicine for the treatment of osteoporosis. Biologics MD is developing OsteoFlorTM, a new prescription medicine for the treatment of osteoporosis, based on research developed at the University of Arkansas. OsteoFlorTM binds directly to the bone, nearly tripling new bone growth. Paul Mlakar, President of BiologicsMD said “It’s a great honor to have won this prestigious competition, and we look forward to following the path of other winners in launching our company.” [Read more…]

U of A’s BiologicsMD wins University of Texas Global Moot Corp Competition

by

Global Moot Corp, tonight announced the Global Champion of its competition is BiologicsMD, a team from the University of Arkansas, developing a new prescription medicine for the treatment of osteoporosis. Biologics MD is developing OsteoFlorTM, a new prescription medicine for the treatment of osteoporosis, based on research developed at the University of Arkansas. OsteoFlorTM binds directly to the bone, nearly tripling new bone growth. Paul Mlakar, President of BiologicsMD said “It’s a great honor to have won this prestigious competition, and we look forward to following the path of other winners in launching our company.” In addition to announcing its Global Champion, the competition also announced it is changing its name to the “Venture Labs Investment Competition” and repositioning itself as “The Super Bowl of Investment Competition.” It will continue to use its former name, “Moot Corp,” as part of its tagline for the foreseeable future. [Read more…]

Gov. Mike Beebe’s Weekly Column and Radio Address: Real World Education

by

Any education is not complete without establishing a practical application in real-life situations for what that person learns. Our students can take classes in broad subjects like math, English, or science. But in order to grasp the importance of this information and these skills in their lives beyond school, students must have the chance to employ those skills in a real-world setting. Earlier this month, I joined more than 2,100 students from across Arkansas in Hot Springs to apply their abilities in career and technical readiness at the 2010 Arkansas SkillsUSA State Leadership Championship. They showcased the skills they had amassed in culinary arts, construction and emergency response, among many others. [Read more…]

University of Arkansas Takes Five of Six Top Spots at Governor’s Cup

by

Teams excel in annual Arkansas business plan competition

InnerVision
First place graduate winner in the Arkansas Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup business plan competition is InnerVision LLC with team members, Bryon Western, Anoop Prasanna, Liz Slape, Annelie Reckling, Jeff Veltkamp, and Carol Reeves. Arkansas Capital Corporation CEO Sam Walls, Governor Mike Beebe and retired Walmart executive Don Soderquist congratulate the team.
Three graduate teams and two undergraduate teams from the University of Arkansas took the top places in the 10th annual Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup business plan competition, held on April 19. The top two teams in each division will travel to Las Vegas on May 18 to the Donald W. Reynolds Tri-State business plan competition, which brings together top teams from Arkansas, Oklahoma and Nevada. They will compete for $25,000 and $15,000 in prize money. [Read more…]

UA Wins Business Plan Contest

by

Graduate, undergrad entrepreneurs take $20,000 prizes

Photo by Staton Breidenthal Graduate-student entrants from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville (left to right) Bryon Western, Anoop Prasanna, Jeff Veltkamp, Annelie Reckling and Liz Slape of InnerVision celebrate winning the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup collegiate business-plan competition Monday in Little Rock.
Photo by Staton Breidenthal
Graduate-student entrants from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville (left to right) Bryon Western, Anoop Prasanna, Jeff Veltkamp, Annelie Reckling and Liz Slape of InnerVision celebrate winning the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup collegiate business-plan competition Monday in Little Rock.
Two teams from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville won the graduate and undergraduate awards Monday in the 10th annual Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup business plan competition. InnerVision LLC, which helps power-generation companies improve their maintenance, won the graduate division. Arkansas Auto Fluff, which recycles plastic from junked automobiles, won in the undergraduate division. Each team received $20,000. InnerVision uses a technology patented by Arkansas Power Electronics International in Fayetteville, said Jeff Veltkamp, chief executive officer of InnerVision. The technology allows operators of power turbines to determine the condition of the turbine blades while the turbines are running, Veltkamp said. Previously, the turbines had to be shut down before checking their condition, Veltkamp said. “They’ve had to take those machines apart to know that information [until now],” Veltkamp said. [Read more…]

Employment Opportunity: Growing Enrollment in Entrepreneurship classes

by

Business professors nationwide and in Arkansas are reporting the growing trend. Carol Reeves, an associate professor of management at the University of Arkansas’ Walton College of Business, says entrepreneurship programs have been the fastest growing major at universities. This, as the national unemployment rate hovers at 10 percent, and investment banks and Wall Street firms aren’t hiring as many business school graduates as they once did. Reeves’ class has gone from just 2 students in 2000 to 30 this year. At Harding University at Searcy, enrollment in entrepreneurship classes have doubled in the last five years. Such programs teach students everything from how to write a business plan to management, accounting and marketing. [Read more…]

Governor’s Cup Is Key Step For Many Students

by

On Thursday, the graduate and undergraduate winners of the 2010 Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup Collegiate Business Plan Competition will be announced at the sixth annual Governor’s Cup awards dinner. The dinner, always a gala event, caps months of work by hundreds of entrepreneurial Oklahoma college students. The teams submitted their written business plans in early March. The plans were evaluated through an independent review process, and the competition was narrowed to 12 undergraduate division semifinalists and seven graduate division finalists. [Read more…]