University of Wisconsin Students Win $10K in Business Plan Competition

Student Loan Girl — Thu, 29 May 2008 01:42:00 GMT

Sky Vegetables — the brainchild of University of Wisconsin-Madison business students Keith Agoada and Troy Vosseller — was the grand prize winning idea of the school’s 2008 G. Steven Burrill Business Plan Competition, according to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education (“High-Minded Idea,” May 23, 2008).

Agoada, a senior marketing major, and Vosseller, a graduate student pursuing his MBA, won $10,000 for their plan to construct and operate commercial hydroponic greenhouses on the rooftops of supermarkets across the United States.

Sky Vegetables would employ specially trained hydroponic farmers who would cultivate fruits, vegetables, flowers, and herbs in a nutrient-rich solution instead of soil. Since this liquid weighs significantly less than soil, the students say, the supermarket rooftop greenhouses will not cause any undue strain on the buildings.

Key components of the students’ business model involve an elimination of carbon emissions — no transportation would be required to bring the produce to market — and the use of camera-monitored greenhouses that will allow customers to see where their food is being grown.

"These farms in California — you have no idea what goes on," Agoada said. "We're saying that we're so confident in our product, we'll even show you how we make it."

Agoada and Vosseller have entered their business model into the Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest. The take-home prize of $200,000 could end up being the seed money to carry the students’ new venture forward.

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“Reduce, Re-Use, Re-Ride”: Sell and Trade Your Surfboards, Skateboards and Snowboards Online

Student Loan Girl — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:40:00 GMT

ReRip may not show you how to transform your old boards into something completely unboard-like, the way IKEA Hacker overhauls furniture, but ReRip does share with IKEA Hacker the goal of making the stale new again, giving old boards a second chance at life with different owners.

“Reduce. Re-use. Re-ride.” It’s ReRip’s official slogan.

ReRip, as the company explains on its website, “wants to pull used but rideable surfboards, skateboards and skis out of people’s garages and put them under the feet of those looking for a ‘new’ ride.” ReRip’s founders hope their venture will translate into fewer boards made, fewer toxins emitted and fewer materials discarded.

The company, started four months ago by Meghan Dambacher and Lisa Randall of Solana Beach, Calif., hopes to capitalize on the current trend that has consumers going green. In addition to hosting its used board network, ReRip wants to promote eco-friendly boarding businesses for those customers looking for new equipment, according to a story by David Berlin that appeared in The San Diego Union-Tribune (“New Life for Old Gear,” Aug. 26, 2007).

Start Small Until You’re Ready for the Big Leagues

Dambacher and Randall, as the ReRip homepage says, aim at “raising awareness one board at a time,” developing their business plan that can appeal to both eco-conscious and cost-conscious consumers.

“The idea is to make it easy for people to recycle equipment instead of throwing it away or buying something brand new,” writes Berlin. Dambacher and Randall acknowledge that “[i]t might not save the polar ice caps all by itself, but it could help.”

Much like frugal parents who start their musically inclined children on pawn shop instruments, or money-strapped college students who troll garage sales, eBay and online classifieds for affordable finds, wannabe extreme sportsters can turn to ReRip to find secondhand starter boards or trade up once they master new tricks—all while saving money and the environment.

ReRip, as Berlin explains “is essentially a Craigslist.com for action-sports items.”

You can get a 6-foot-4-inch epoxy Retro Fish surfboard for $320 from a seller in Oceanside, Calif. Or learn new moves on a Birdhouse skateboard autographed by professional skateboarder Brian Sumner, available for $165. Or grab a $150 M3 snowboard that’s seen a couple of seasons and is now too small for its owner.

Brian Sumner “Liverpool Tone” skateboard.

But the ReRip interchange doesn’t stop at just boards. Find skis, ski boots and other gear to hit the slope; helmets, longboards and wheels to shred up the park, and wetsuits and fins to ride the waves.

Taking Eco-Boarding to the Next Level

Eventually, Dambacher, a child development counselor, and Randall, a fitness manager, want to expand ReRip from a used product intermediary into a forum where action-sports enthusiasts can also buy new equipment that, in keeping with the company’s green outlook, is made with environmentally friendly products like Biofoam^™.

Homeblown US, which manufactures Biofoam, incorporates the material in its surfboards. These Biofoam surfblanks are made from a mix that consists of 50 percent agricultural products and replace traditional polyurethane surfblanks. Homeblown claims that using Biofoam produces 36 percent less global warming emissions and reduces non-renewable energy use by 61 percent.

Homeblown US Biofoam surfboard (left) and Biofoam surfblanks (right).

By promoting eco-minded companies like Homeblown, which is generating press for its Biofoam boards, ReRip hopes to attract boarders who support green initiatives but may not necessarily want to confine themselves to used equipment.

As Dambacher says in Berlin’s article, “We understand people want new things, but we want to say, ‘OK, if you’re going to buy it new, buy it from this company because they’re doing X, Y and Z, and it’s easier on the planet.”

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Student Loan Blog : carbon emissions

University of Wisconsin Students Win $10K in Business Plan Competition

“Reduce, Re-Use, Re-Ride”: Sell and Trade Your Surfboards, Skateboards and Snowboards Online