John Brown University Teams Dominate 2011 Governor’s Cup

Students from John Brown University in Siloam Springs won four of six top prizes Wednesday at the 11th annual Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup college business plan competition. JBU swept the top three spots in the overall undergraduate division and took third place overall in the graduate division. JBU is a private, Christian university in Siloam Springs with roughly 2,100 students. Teams from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, won first and second place in the graduate division. Agricultural Food Systems, the JBU team that developed a business plan around technology that measures tenderness in raw meat carcasses on production lines, won every award for which it competed, including the undergraduate agriculture award, the undergrad innovation award, the undergrad elevator pitch competition and the top spot overall. The top three overall winning teams in each division were: Undergraduate

1. Agriculture Food Systems, JBU
2. Craftistas, JBU (direct sales craft kits)
3. GardenCraft, JBU (do-it-yourself hypertufa)

Graduate

1. cycleWood Solutions, UA (biodegradable plastic bag)
2. TiFiber, UA (innovative industrial filtration)
3. Peas and Cues, JBU (foreign language cirriculum)

The awards luncheon was held at the Statehouse Convention Center in front of about 1,000 people, including Gov. Mike Beebe. Read the full article from Arkansas Business, here.