By ELLIOT HARRIS

Staff Writer

The 2003-04 Tech Top Dawg Business Plan is over, and the winners have been announced.

Winning team members were Kyle Guice, a senior chemical engineering major; Noah Hayes, a senior marketing major; and Taylor Stein, a senior mechanical engineering major.

After competing with five other teams on Feb. 28, the winners took home the $2500 first place prize. The group’s winning idea, nCard, would allow people to use only one card for all their credit transactions.

The main purpose of the annual competition, sponsored by the Association for Business, Engineering and Science Entrepreneurs, is to give students the opportunity to become experienced in entrepreneurship.

The winning team plans to make their plan an operating business.

“We’re taking some baby steps in creating a proper media campaign,” Hayes said.

Stein, a member of the winning team, is happy about the group’s efforts.

“I learned so much,” Stein said in a recent press release. “We put in tons of hours and worked with people from across the university.”

Other prizes were awarded in the competition.

Navwear won second place and a $1500 prize.

Team members were Daniel Alsup, a senior business administration major; Nicholas Patrick, a senior computer science major, and Tameka Taylor, a senior mechanical engineering major.

Navwear’s product, Nomad, is a belt to be used as a global positioning system (GPS) accessory. The belt would contain vibrators which would give users, such as hikers or the blind, travel directions once their destination is typed into the device.

Navwear team member Taylor was surprised to win.

“I was very excited to win,” Taylor said. “There were a lot of teams competing and only three prizes, so the odds of winning weren’t that good.”

The Vanguard group won third place and a $1000 prize.

Members were: Kiran Chakravarthula, a biomedical engineering major; Komal Dave, a senior biomedical engineering major; Kelli Gremillion, a sophomore elementary major; Parag Jhaveri, an engineering graduate student; Venkata Kiriti Munganuru, a computer science graduate student; and Sankara Kumara Yesasvi, an engineering graduate student.

Vanguard’s plan, with its InterLingo Corporation, would allow customer service groups to communicate particularly with Spanish-speaking consumers. Customer service representatives would type a phrase and it would be received by the consumer in its own language.

Team member Jhaveri said the group saw a need for this innovation.

“We saw a great opportunity regarding the translation from speech to speech,” Jhaveri said.

Team Crash and Burn received honorable mention. Members were: Jason Christie, a senior computer information system major; and Suzanne Christie, a sophomore pre-nursing major.

Judges of the competition reviewed each groups’ plan in a preliminary judging and allowed the teams to improve their product or business plan in one month.

Judges of the competition were: David Darland of Community Trust Bank, Ruston; Jeff Harper of WPS Industries, Ruston; John Harrison, Patent Attorney of Shreveport; Steve St. Cyr of Vivid Ink, Baton Rouge; and Gene Trammell of NetQos in Austin, TX.

Ben Erwin, a senior electrical engineering major and president of Association for Business, Engineering and Science Entrepreneurs, said the competition gives the students more than just cash prizes.

“The experience itself is something these entrepreneurs can take to heart,” Erwin said. “What they learned will be with them for a lifetime.”