Students from Pearl Academy and Universidad Tecnológica de México win the 2015 James McGuire Competition
Pearl Academy undergraduate student Kartik Verma, with his project Assuage Mom, and Universidad Tecnológica de México (UNITEC) graduate students Roberto Armando Alvarado Yañez and Adrián Esteban Ramírez Gómez, with their project ICH, are the winners of their respective categories in the 2015 Global James McGuire Business Plan Competition. Each team will receive a $50,000 low-interest loan to fund the businesses outlined in their plans and presentations. The finalist teams who participated in the five-day event, held concurrently with the annual Laureate Leadership Summit in Miami included:
Undergraduate Finalists:
Pearl Academy (India)
Project: Assuage Mom
Student team: Kartik Verma
Faculty mentor: Shazia Amanat
Universidad Privada del Norte (Peru)
Project: Ferti Humus
Student team: Nersy Cauti Valdivia and Kassia Maricarmen Soriano Becerra
Faculty mentor: Jeaneth Patricia Sánchez
Universidad Tecnológica de México
Project: Proyeto Papet
Student team: Paulina Mariana Caballero Gutierrez and Eder Adrian Nava Martinez
Faculty mentor: Lizbeth Garcia Rincon
Graduate Finalists:
NABA (Italy)
Project: Studio Siwaa
Student team: Wanja Laiboni
Universidad Europea de Madrid (Spain)
Project: VeinticuatroSiete
Student team: Antonio Angulo Ortega and Mario Blanca Santiago
Faculty mentor: Antonio Alcocer Fernandez-Pinilla
Universidad Tecnológica de México
Project: ICH
Student team: Roberto Armando Alvarado Yañez and Adrián Esteban Ramírez Góme
Faculty mentor: Agustin Perfecto Rosas
Thirty teams submitted business plans for the undergraduate and graduate/working adult categories. An internal selection committee of Laureate faculty and executives evaluated the plans and chose three teams per category that participated in the finals in Miami.
During the five day competition in Miami, student teams presented their business ideas to each other; attended a workshop on presentation skills, received three days of coaching and feedback and presented their plans in a formal interview with an external selection committee comprised of the following business leaders:
- James H. McGuire, former board member, Laureate Education, Inc.
- Todd Benson, former board member, Laureate Education, Inc
- Meredith McPherron, former director, The Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School
- Felipe Fabris, knowledge and content manager at Endeavor Brazil
The Global James McGuire Business Competition was launched in 2007 by Douglas L. Becker, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Laureate Education, Inc. to honor Mr. James H. McGuire, a former member of Laureate’s Board of Directors, and to foster entrepreneurship among students.
