Students Advance in Governor’s Cup Competition
JONESBORO – Two teams from Arkansas State University have advanced in the “Clash for the Cash” Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup. The pair will compete in the undergraduate division business plan semifinals and agriculture division finals, Thursday-Friday, March 30-31, at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Little Rock.
Pasture Parent—Hunter Travis, Lauren Patterson, Kevin Garner, Andrew Roach, and senior judge Brandon French
The teams are “Pasture Parent” and “Waterbug Irrigation.” “Pasture Parent” members include Kevin Garner Jr., Andrew Roach, Hunter Travis and Lauren Patterson. All four are management majors at A-State who are developing a system for alerting cattle farmers to monitor births of calves.
Agriculture major Nathan Bailey is the sole owner of “Waterbug Irrigation,” and is offering services to farmers with irrigation systems by selling his patent-pending product, the Bailey Patch. The Bailey Patch is designed to solve polytube blowouts in farms’ irrigation systems.
“Our finalists reflect the ongoing success of the A-State business plan competition and the different activities that we organize in the Entrepreneurial and Innovation Club,” said Dr. Erick Chang, associate professor of management and adviser for the Governor’s Cup competition. “Our approach is student-driven where students follow a process of business plan development that is more hands-on and practical.
“For me, it is easier to advise students as I have been developing business plans and new ventures for about 25 years. Hence, it is not about opening a book and telling a student what to do; it is about I did it, so you can do it too.”
Chang also noted that becoming a semifinalist means winning $1,000 and being able to compete for additional monetary prizes where A-State students have won more than $50,000 over the last 10 years. The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation is sponsoring the cash prize pool of $154,000, one of the largest collegiate business plan prize pools in the U.S.
A third A-State team, “WTVW,” competed but did not advance. Team members are Steven Taylor, Corey Vance and Quinn Smith. A-State teams have been advancing to the agriculture division finals for the last three years and the winner of the A-State business plan competition has advanced to the next rounds in the Governor’s Cup for the last five years.
All winners will be announced at the 17th annual Governor’s Cup awards luncheon, Tuesday, April 11, in the Wally Allen Ballroom of the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.
Senior judge Brandon French, Nathan Bailey and former winner Bekka Dillon.
