Three student teams from UNC Charlotte will compete this week at the 2015 University of North Carolina Social Entrepreneurship Conference.
Now in its third year, the UNC Social Entrepreneurship Conference engages students, faculty and entrepreneurs from across the state to identify North Carolina’s social problems and take a business-oriented approach to solve them.
The UNC General Administration will host the conference on Feb. 11 at N.C. A&T State University in Greensboro, where 27 undergrad team entrants and 16 graduate team entrants from across the UNC system will compete.
The teams develop a business plan to address a social problem facing a North Carolina community. The teams work to define the problem and develop a proposed solution with a clear value proposition. Each team gains business experience by completing a plan that addresses market size, financial analysis, social impact analysis and implementation milestones. The proposal may be for a new nonprofit or for-profit organization or for an extension of an existing organization.
The competition is open to teams of up to 10 members. Teams must be led by either undergraduate or graduate students and may include students and community representatives.
The statewide competition will be judged by an expert panel of UNC Board of Governors, investors, business and social enterprise leaders. Statewide winners will receive cash prizes.
Robert Wilhelm, vice chancellor for research and economic development, stated that “UNC Charlotte student teams have fared well in previous competitions including last year’s team of Lee College of Engineering students that won second place in the undergraduate category for its Solar Traffic Light project. This competition showcases the power of our students using entrepreneurial principles to innovate meaningful, sustainable solutions to North Carolina’s needs.”
According to Paul Wetenhall, president of Ventureprise Inc., the three UNC Charlotte teams competing in 2015 are diverse in several dimensions, including the academic majors of the student members and their proposals. Ventureprise, a nonprofit venture development organization sponsored by the University and the University’s Small Business and Technology Development Center provided in-depth coaching to this year’s student teams.
The teams from UNC Charlotte are:
Team GASP: Team GASP ( German-American Student Placement) proposes to establish a nonprofit agency that connects students, German-American businesses and educational institutions such as universities, community colleges, and high schools in the Charlotte metropolitan region.
“GASP recognizes that there is a mid-skill gap in the region, stagnant upward social mobility and a youth unemployment crisis,” the group’s proposal stated. “We are offering a solution that addresses all three issues by increasing social development, workforce development and economic development. According to the National Skill Coalition, by 2030, 51 percent of job openings in North Carolina will be for middle skill jobs.”
The Social Traveler’s Program: The objective of the Social Traveler’s Program is “to make a more attractive trade-off between alternative modes of transportation, in order to reduce single-person car use.”
According to the team’s proposal, using transportation modes that are shared (e.g. train, bus, car pool) and/or low-emission (e.g. biking, walking) have enormous social, environmental and economic benefits. Still, in most settings, the convenience and benefits of a personal car outweigh the convenience of any other form of travel.
“The first phase of our program consists to launch the “Royalty for Loyalty” mobile phone application. This smartphone app – available free of charge - will allow users to track miles traveled on Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS), which they can redeem for discounts at local businesses, tickets at local events and exhibits or for their next public transit fare. Our app would also incorporate transit-related games to further stimulate participation and strengthen a sense of community as riders can play these games with passengers around them. In addition, safety and quality ratings of transit routes and their stops will give users a way to engage and provide their input on existing services, which would be a beneficial source of data for CATS.”
Joinup: Joinup is a website-based hub that links students with potential business partners and fellow students. Launched out of UNC Charlotte’s Small Business Incubator, the website provides student startups access to connecting with college students that believe in their ideas. Startups are given access to viewing student’s personal profiles and management features for instant job assigning and communication.
“Joinup gives students interested in joining startups the ability to view business startup concepts and their progress, and it gives them the ability to apply to join,” the team said in its proposal. “Students are also given access to local search functionality for startups in their area and the ability to upload resumes for a seamless one-click apply process.
“Starting a business is something that many college students want to do. However starting a business alone can be tough. Students need to have skills like accounting, management, and programming before they can take their product to market. When looking for prospective business partners that have the skills college startups need, many students tend to choose them from an under-qualified pool of their friends. Because of this lack of access to qualified students, economic mobility and startup success become less likely.”