SNRE Students Win First Prize in Business School Competition
By Patrick Heck
The winner of the 2006 Howard J. Leonhardt Business Plan Competition, Social
Venture Category wasn’t a team of like-minded finance majors or Bill-Gates
wannabees. The winners were a group of diverse SNRE graduate students with
one airy idea.
Their story could be compared with that of David versus Goliath, although
Amber Pitt, Jamie Cotta, Skya Murphy and Simone Athayde didn’t take
down a menacing giant, they defeated the entire UF Warrington College of Business.
The four women took Dr. Robert Buschbacher’s spring course,
Conservation Entrepreneurship: Business and Management Practices in International
Environmental Conservation, as an opportunity to gain an understanding of
organizational management and learn how to apply “private sector approaches” to
conservation programs in their field. As part of their class grade, the students
needed to design a business model for a potential eco-friendly company with
the intent to generate income and conserve natural resources. The result was
AirAware, a non-profit tire inflation service provided to car owners and businesses
that promoted the benefits of properly inflated tires.
Their final project was entered into the Howard J. Leonhardt Business Plan
Competition, an annual, campus-wide event open to undergraduate and graduate
students from the University of Florida.* Most of the competition’s
participants are enrolled in UF’s prestigious Warrington College of
Business.
"I was impressed that a small group of students from SNRE, botany and forestry could compete and win a competition in the business school, meeting all their requirements and criteria for a viable business plan," said Dr. Robert Buschbacher of his students. "It's also remarkable that such a simple idea as inflating tires could be elaborated with enough depth to demonstrate both a significant local environmental impact and have great potential for scaling up."
According to its website, "the competition recognizes and encourages the entrepreneurial spirit that has developed among the talented students of this institution, providing an opportunity for the university community to translate its ideas into a concrete plans that could develop into commercial possibilities."
2000 vehicles with properly maintained tire pressure would
save approximately 870,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from being
released into the atmosphere. |
AirAware, is definitely viable as a commercial product. Amber Pitt, AirAware's would-be Executive Director explained that the team had pitched several Gainesville businesses and many were very interested. A local insurance agency was ready to buy the service as a benefit for their employees prior to the project's completion.
The premise behind AirAware, was
three fold. First, the safety impact of under- and over-inflated tires is
critical. The most common mechanical failure resulting in highway traffic
accidents is blown tires due to improper inflation. Secondly, from calculations
done by Skya Murphy, people with improperly inflated tires pay for it at
the gas pump. Tires, which are under-inflated by as little as 20% reduce
a vehicle's gas mileage by 4% and the wear of an average tire by 16%. These
values translate
into an extra $50 per year in fuel costs for a vehicle that travels 12,000
miles per year and gets 23 miles per gallon, as well as the extra costs associated
with having to replace tires 10,000 miles prior to their advertised life
expectancy. When scaled up to 2000 vehicles, the additional fuel cost alone
would equal $100,000. Lastly, but most importantly as far as the AirAware
team is concerned, improved gas mileage reduces carbon-dioxide emissions
making this an eco-friendly enterprise. The 2000 vehicles with properly maintained
tire pressure would save approximately 870,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from
being
released into the atmosphere. This translates into fewer unnecessary
emissions contributing to global warming.
Jamie Cotta, presented AirAware's business plan on behalf of the team and led them to a clear victory. Judged by a panel of senior venture capital partners, the team was awarded first place in the new Social Ventures category. AirAware beat out five other teams for top prize of bragging rights (and $3,000). "Our diverse backgrounds benefited the project," says Amber, a freshwater turtle expert. "None of us had a formal background in business and we all had different experiences and expertise to bring to the project, which is probably why it worked out so well."
* Students from the Buchholz's Academy of Entrepreneurship also participated
| Simone Athayde, a current
SNRE student, studies
the displacement and the dynamics of indigenous knowledge systems among
the Kaibi in the Brazilian Amazon. Her advisor is Michael
Heckenberger from the Department of Anthropology. |
| Jamie Cotta, a former SNRE
student, studied the effects of shifting cultivation on Brazil nut tree (Bertholletia
excelsa) regeneration in the Brazilian Amazon. Her advisor is Karen Kainer from the School of Forest Research and Conservation and the Tropical Conservation and Development Program. |
| Amber Pitt, a current SNRE student, studies
ecology and conservation of reptiles and amphibians (mainly freshwater
turtles and hellbender salamanders). Her advisor is Max Nickerson of the
Florida Museum of Natural History. Amber also won the Best Student Paper
Award (including a $500.00 prize) at the Turtle Survival Alliance meeting
held in August in St. Louis, MO. Attendees came from 33 states and 16 countries. |
Skya Murphy, a current Botany student, studies community ecology of tropical forests, biodiversity tradeoffs in managed forests, non-timber forest products, sustainable timber production, and traditional ecological knowledge. Skya's advisor is Jack Putz, a professor in the Botany Department |
