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Millersville Student Finalist in Business Plan Competition

Backpacks out of plastic bags!

Franklin Herr2
Franklin Herr

Millersville student Franklin Herr was one of 10 finalists in Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education’s fifth annual Business Plan Competition. The $10,000 competition is designed to provide student entrepreneurs a real-world opportunity to pitch their original business plans and to win funds to assist in the start-up of their businesses.

Herr’s company, “Implore Outdoor Company” is looking for funds for research and development followed by commercialization of various sized and performance-graded carrier packs, e.g. school backpacks and expedition grade backpacks. The carrier packs will be constructed from recycled plastic bags as the main material.

“Our unprecedented line of backpacking equipment will be constructed primarily from plastic grocery bags,” explained Herr. “This will reduce pollution, while providing a sustainable method by which to enjoy the great outdoors. My company will be housed at The Candy Factory, a co-working facility in downtown Lancaster, Pa.”

Herr said he received incredible business guidance from the Entrepreneurial Leadership Center (ELC) and Dr. Thomas Boyle and Nancy Mata. “The resources from ELC provided crucial while constructing  my business plan. The expertise of Dr. Boyle and Professor Mata helped me to streamline the process, and I learned much more than I expected to. They were accessible, encouraging and excited to help in any possible way.”

After much research and design, current hiking backpack prototypes have yielded promising results, according to Herr.  “My packs rival the functionality and durability of the competitors. My company will establish the environmentally-conscious outdoor equipment market, and aims to acquire a 10% share of the $4 billion per annum global outdoor equipment market.”

Students from the 14 State System universities were invited to participate in the competition in the fall. A total of 223 students/student teams submitted their intent to compete in the competition this year. Of those, 109 made it through the first round of judging, from which 17 entrants were selected as semi-finalists. Ten teams were selected as finalists.

“As a business owner myself, I know how daunting a task it is to develop a workable business plan, and then to make it succeed,” said Guido M. Pichini, chairman of the State’s System’s Board of Governors, who will speak at the event prior to the presentation of the awards. “All of this year’s participants deserve to be congratulated.”

“It takes passionate people like Dr. Boyle and Professor Mata to bring ideas to life, and without their work, this process would have been impossible,” said Herr.

An East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania student who developed “Fader Plugs,” designed to protect the wearer from harmful noise, won the $10,000 first place prize in the fifth annual Student Business Plan Competition. Blaise Delfino, a licensed hearing aid dispenser and audio engineer, is a graduate student studying speech-language pathology at ESU. Fader plugs are designed to provide for “controlled decibel reduction in a highly functional and fashionable design.Delfino’s winning business plan included a blueprint for research and development following by commercialization of the product.

Second place in the competition went to David Tini, a student at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania, who developed “Hot Lips,” an attachment to the mouthpiece of brass musical instruments. The attachment is designed to warm the instrument’s mouthpiece for improved musician performance during cold weather.

The third-place prize went to Brendan Shepherd of Clarion University of Pennsylvania, who developed a plan to establish a home remodeling business. Growth of the company will be into residential rental properties and real estate development.

 

 

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