December 12, 2003

NIACC Students Participate in the John Pappajohn Business Plan Competition

Four North Iowa Area Community College students participated in the annual John Pappajohn Business Plan Competition on December 5 at the Des Moines Marriott. Students who participated include: Kelley Bahl, Tammie Calvert, April Ciavarelli (Mason City), and Heather Neagle (Garner).

In September 2000, John Pappajohn created a statewide business plan competition to encourage and help Iowa college students pursue their interests in starting their own companies. Regional competitions are held at each of the Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Centers in Iowa. Regional finalists present their plan to John Pappajohn and his staff at Equity Dynamics Inc. Three awards of $5000 each are awarded to the top teams.
This is a great opportunity for our NIACC entrepreneurial students, Tim Putnam, Associate Director of the NIACC Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center, said. The students have the opportunity to present their business concepts to John Pappajohn and the Equity Dynamics executive team and gain very positive feedback from one of the most successful venture capital firms in America. This experience truly adds a real world model to their learning experience.

Although no NIACC students received seed capital funding this year, they gained valuable insights from conversations with Pappajohn and were encouraged to move forward. According to Pappajohn, this year s business plans were by far the best presentations yet, demonstrating that the Pappajohn Business and Entrepreneurial Center definitely help educate and develop students in an exemplary fashion.

The Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center is located on the North Iowa Area Community College campus in Mason City, Iowa, and provides college level courses and degree programs in entrepreneurship, as well as consulting services for business start-ups and existing industries in the North Iowa region. The Center also provides FastTrac training programs for beginning companies and existing companies.

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Ref. PEC20031212

For more information, contact the Marketing and Community Relations Department
North Iowa Area Community College, 500 College Drive, Mason City, Iowa  50401
422-4295 or 1-888-GO NIACC, ext. 4295
www.niacc.edu