The Kenneth A. Freirich Business Plan Competition will award prizes valued at more than $25,000 to the Skidmore students (or team of
students) who write the best business plans. The prizes are intended to act as a catalyst
to help students start a new business or to assist the development of their existing
business.
The impetus for this competition comes from Kenneth A. Freirich, Skidmore Class of
1990, serial entrepreneur, and president of Health Monitor Network. Ken returned to
Skidmore in October of 2010 as the College's first Entrepreneur in Residence where he issued an "Entrepreneurship/Creativity Challenge" to the student body. Inspired
by the impressive talent, creativity, and effort that went into the student presentations,
he decided to take things to the next level: launching a business plan competition
to foster entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity among Skidmore students. That
competition is now in its third year.
Students will indicate their 'intent to compete' by early October of 2012. They will then be required to participate in a weekly
business plan writing workshop conducted by senior Management and Business majors
from the Skidmore-Saratoga Entrepreneurial Partnership. The first set of business
plans will be due upon return to campus in late January. These business plans will
be presented in early February to a panel of experts made up of entrepreneurs, venture
capitalists, accountants, lawyers, executives, and members of the Department of Management
and Business. The judges will narrow the submissions to a list of finalists who will
then spend another month honing their business plans, mentored by alumni who are experts
in the field relevant to each business plan and students in the SSEP program. Final
presentations of the revised business plans will occur before a panel of judges in
mid-April of 2013, and winners will be chosen at the culmination of those presentations.
