Outreach : SC Collegiate Entrepreneur Award
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2008 Winner Brett Eaves with Spiro Institute Associate Director, Kim Dawson |
For the past nine years, the Spiro Institute has sponsored the annual South Carolina Collegiate Entrepreneurship Award to recognize and encourage student entrepreneurs across the state. The winners of the competition receive a cash award (currently $2,000 for first prize and $1,000 for first runner-up). Applications are reviewed by a panel of judges and are evaluated on creativity of concept, profit performance, potential to create job growth and wealth, and innovative methods of management. The winner and first runner up are recognized for their achievements at the state-wide U.S. SBA Small Business Week luncheon each year.
Both undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to enter this competition. Each applicant must be a current full-time student at a South Carolina institution of higher education or have been a full-time student during at least one semester of preceding year, and the business must have been in operation while the applicant was a full-time student during that time period.
Over the competition’s nine-year history, thirty-eight collegiate business owners have entered the competition. These include students at the state’s three major public research universities (Clemson University, the University of South Carolina and the Medical University of South Carolina); the Citadel military academy; private colleges including Anderson College, Columbia College, Erskine College, Presbyterian College and Wofford College; and a number of two-year technical colleges.
Each year, the competition receives applications from a wide variety of businesses, ranging from internet-based specialty sales ventures to landscaping and construction companies. The winners from each year’s competition are:
- 2008: Brett Eaves of Clemson University with Southern Comfort Futons, a company that pre-sells high-quality futons to incoming college students and then delivers them to dorm rooms on move-in day.
- 2007: Armen Amirkhanian of Clemson University with Entropy Studios and Exergy Properties. Entropy Studios is a company that specializes in 3D designs of civil engineering projects.Exergy Properties is a company that buys houses to rent.
- 2006: Elizabeth Baxley of Clemson University with Sassy Mel’s, a boutique specializing in jewelry, gifts, and accessories
- 2005: Mike Garcia of Clemson University with P.S.I. Motorsports, a compact sports car modification company
- 2004: Shawn Becker of Clemson University with Ocean Edge Landscaping and Ameri-Built Homes, a full-service landscaping business and a home construction business, respectively
- 2003: Zachary Rich of Clemson University with ExAact, Inc., a company that sells a proprietary prodect developed for the construction industry that prevents concrete from sticking to metal
- 2002: Adam Witty of Clemson University with TicketAdvantage, a business that matches event ticket seekers with holders of unused season tickets
- 2001: Ravin Prashad of Presbyterian College with Acoustics for Less, an internet-based guitar sales company
- 2000: James Haltiwanger of Clemson University with AmeriTrack, Inc. and NuDay Media, an alumni tracking websites business and a web services business, respectively