ASU students advance to finals in
Donald W. Reynolds Governor's Cup

May 9, 2005--A team of students from the College of Business at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro advanced to the finals in the prestigious 2005 Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup competition the last week of April.

The competition, aimed at sparking the entrepreneurial spirit in Arkansas, included 60 teams from 14 Arkansas universities.

Only six undergraduate teams made it to the finals held at the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock. Stacy Somers and husband, Matt Somers, of Pocahontas, along with Brad Mobley of Redfield and Rachael Grady of Poplar Bluff, Mo., submitted a business plan for a new business venture, “Clayoli’s Tuscan Grill.”

The business plan included market research, extensive financial planning and analysis, detailed menu and recipe preparation and many hours of hard work.
“While their team did not win the contest, they performed admirably, advancing farther than any ASU team has in four years of competition,” said faculty sponsor, Dr. Don Lester from the Department of Marketing and Management in the College of Business.

The Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup business plan competition is for undergraduate and graduate students attending any university or college in Arkansas. ASU entered eight teams in the competition. The competition consisted of preparing the plan for initial evaluation by a panel of judges, then delivering an oral presentation and its merits to a different panel of judges at the Arts Center.
 

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