Business Plan Competition

To protect people’s hearts and raise awareness about heart disease, Genso LLC launched Heart Juice, an all-natural, low-calorie beverage containing cardio-protective ingredients. After researching and meeting with doctors, herbalists and natural food stores, Genso founders developed a list of essential ingredients often used in heart health applications. They concluded that if they mixed hawthorn extract, resveratrol, vitamins, antioxidants, garlic extract, pomegranate juice and a small amount of stevia, they’d have a bottled drink that would support heart health. Available in a Pulse Berry flavor, Heart Juice has 20 calories and comes packaged in a 16-ounce glass bottle. A bottle retails for approximately $2.79.

Details for this year's Rutgers Business School 2011 Business Plan Competition were released earlier this month, giving entrepreneurs the opportunity to expand their business. The competition, sponsored by the Sales Executives Club of Northern New Jersey Foundation, will be held from Dec. 1 to March 4 at the Rutgers Business School and will allow business owners to present their plans to a panel of experts. Judges look for a plan with long-term viability, said William McIlroy, the director of Corporate Outreach at the business school.

Innovation in business, whether spurred by competition or an entrepreneurial spirit, is the spark to progress. But then the old adage "it takes money to make money" comes into play and the idea dies. Enter the Rutgers Business School (RBS) Business Plan Competition, an annual event that has been awarding cash prizes to entrepreneurial students for 10 years to give great ideas the push to start a viable business.

As co-founder of BookSwim.com, Shamoon Siddiqui RBS'08 says that he gained a solid foundation in business through the Rutgers Business School MBA program. He is especially grateful for one particular class that proved very useful in founding a company. Before taking Financial Accounting, Siddiqui says he did not know how to read financial statements nor did he realize the importance of certain numbers on balance sheets and cash-flow statements, both of which are of vital importance to starting a business. His favorite memory of his time at Rutgers was when he and BookSwim.com co-founder George Burke competed in and won the Rutgers Business Plan competition. The $20,000 prize enabled the duo to move forward on making BookSwim.com a reality.