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Whitworth students put their business acumen to the test and won big in this spring's Hogan Entrepreneurial Leadership Program Business Plan Competition. The competition, the largest of its kind in the Inland Northwest, is open to students from Whitworth, Gonzaga, Eastern Washington and Washington State. This year, 44 teams submitted plans and vied for $42,500 in total cash awards. Of the nine winning teams, four were from Whitworth; a fifth winning team comprised two Whitworth students and a Gonzaga student.
Daniel Belko, '07, and Lewis Turner, '08 (pictured left), took first place and won the $7,500 Avista Social Impact Award for their Cool Water Bike Shop, run by and for at-risk teenagers. The shop would operate in collaboration with Cup of Cool Water, a Spokane outreach ministry for homeless youth, founded by Mark Terrell, '94.
The other winning Whitworth teams: Tim Coughlin and Sean Thompson, both '08, won $3,500 and second place for Dominion Trading Company, a coffee-roasting business that benefits Ethiopian coffee growers; Darien Brown, '06, Brennan McQuerry, '07, and Margi Begalka (Gonzaga) won a second-place award and $3,500 for Global NeTutors, Inc., which provides Internet-based English-language classes; Emilie Olsen and Dustin Smith, both '08, won yet another second-place award, and $5,000, for HillGhillie Corp., which produces cost-effective material for camouflage clothing; Mark Baker, '09, was a third-place winner, garnering a $2,500 award for Food Runner Delivery, which offers food delivery from better restaurants to homes and offices.
Whitworth faculty from the School of Global Commerce & Management guided the teams. The Hogan competition is presented annually by Gonzaga in collaboration with Whitworth's SGCM and EWU's Center for Entrepreneurial Activities.
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