News Releases

USM Students Win 2007 Student Business Plan Competition

May 14, 2007

On Wednesday, April 11, the University of Southern Maine recognized its sixth annual Student Business Plan Competition winners, USM students A. Silver and Alireza Khojastehzad. The team won with its proposal to create high-end women's athletic clothing geared specifically toward well-endowed and hard-to-fit women. They were awarded $10,000 in start up funds and $15,000 in consulting services to support the fledgling business, known as Silver Performance Gear.

A. Silver, a graduate student at USM's Muskie School of Public Service from Biddeford, recently applied to USM's new joint degree program in which students can earn a M.B.A. and a M.S. in Health and Policy Management. She hopes to use her degree to promote a preventative approach to health care.

Alireza Khojastehzad of Portland is a junior majoring in sociology at USM with an interest in marketing. He is the second member of his family to attend USM since they moved to Maine from Iran when he was a young child.

The idea behind Silver Performance Gear came to Silver about two years ago, after discovering the significant lack of attractive, comfortable sports bras available to well-endowed women. She's consulted with USM's School of Applied Science, Engineering, and Technology (ASET), Athletic Department and the Maine Center for Enterprise Development (MCED) to turn her idea into a viable business. Khojastehzad assisted with the marketing aspects of the project.

The Student Business Plan Competition is sponsored by USM's Center for Entrepreneurship in the School of Business, with the support of the USM Corporate Partners. Every year, entrepreneurial-minded students from throughout Maine gather to participate, battling for recognition and $25,000 in start-up cash and consulting services. This year's competition drew 79 participants organized into 31 teams, representing four colleges and universities, the largest turnout in the event's six-year history. In that time, the competition has seen 368 students in 148 teams, with business plans ranging from the improbable to 11 that continue to function today. The competition promotes small business in Maine and provides students an opportunity to explore the process of creating an original business.

For more information, visit the competition's official site, http://www.usm.maine.edu/sb/new_sb/competition.html.

>more news releases