Students present ideas for products, services during Southeast Startup Pitch Competition

Every great product or business concept was once just an idea in somebody's head.

Last week on the Southeast Missouri State University campus, entrepreneurial students "pitched" their ideas for unique and creative products to a group of business experts as part of the university's third annual Southeast Startup Pitch Competition.

Sponsored by Southeast's Douglas C. Greene Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the competition gives all full-time undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to develop real-world skills by researching a business idea and developing presentations about their ideas while competing for cash prizes.

"The great thing about a program like this is that not only can a student start a business while at SEMO, by the time they graduate, they'll have a business plan completed," said Steven Austin Stovall, professor of entrepreneurship at Southeast. "We're also teaching them how to think like an entrepreneur so that when they go work for a company, they're bottom-line thinkers, creative persons, good problem solvers, and that's something any company would love to have."

More than 30 students participated in this year's competition, submitting 14 business proposals for consideration. A group of local entrepreneurs reviewed each entry and identified the top five product ideas presented last week in Glenn Auditorium on the Southeast campus to a panel of judges in a format similar to product pitches on the television show "Shark Tank." Each presenting team or individual student was allowed about 10 minutes to explain their ideas for a new product or service, accompanied by PowerPoints and handouts, and then fielded questions from the judging panel.

Aaron Birk gives a pitch for a "subscription based domestic travel company" to the judges of a Southeast Startup Pitch Competition on Wednesday at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau.Jacob Wiegand

The first-place pitch, and winner of a $2,000 cash prize from the Greene Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, was a concept called "Revelation Bags." The idea, presented by Katrien Gille, an MBA student from Belgium, was to create a system whereby local restaurants could market their leftover food to customers at a reduced price rather than discard food that had been prepared but not sold by the end of the business day.

Under her concept, Gille said "restaurants would make a certain amount of 'Revelations Bags' available at the beginning of the day that customers could purchase" through an online app. The bags would then be delivered in coordination with the local carGO delivery service.

"The bags would contain a mix of dishes that were still left after the final shift," Gille explained. "And because of the mix, an interesting dinner would result that normally wouldn't be a traditional dish on the menu."

This was Gille's second win in the pitch competition; two years ago she developed an idea for an "International Buddy Program" designed to connect international students at U.S. universities with American students. The platform was eventually implemented at Southeast.

"Entrepreneurship is where my passion lies," Gille said. "Professors here at Southeast have encouraged me to think outside of the box and not be afraid to put ideas out there. If you don't try, you'll never gain something."

Katie Lever, right, speaks during her and project partner Allison Toth's "Safer Seconds" presentation during a Southeast Startup Pitch Competition on Wednesday at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau.jwiegand@semissourian.com

In addition to Gille's project, other finalists in the product pitch competition included an idea for a subscription-based travel company, a device designed to prevent people from driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, a web platform to convert home currency into various international currencies and a social media platform to help people decide what to wear.

jwolz@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630