Release Date: Thursday, March 3, 2005

TERRY MBA STUDENTS WIN GEORGIA BOWL BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION

ATHENS, Ga. — A team of MBA students from the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business pitching a business plan to provide warehousing services for import/export companies won first place in the 2005 Georgia Bowl Business Plan Competition.

International Distribution Solutions (IDS) topped teams from Georgia Tech, the University of Louisville, the University of Manitoba and the Florida Institute of Technology. It was the 14th time in the contest's 15-year history that a UGA team placed first.

Georgia Tech's Frontier Sensors team finished second in the competition with their plan to manufacture and market a line of sensors for industrial robots.

Third place went to a second Terry College team entered in the competition. The Webmasters International (WMI) team plans to develop, maintain and update Web sites for clients.

The Georgia Bowl, held February 11-12 in Athens, pitted business plans formulated by MBA students and their advisers against other new venture ideas. A panel of judges from Georgia's venture capital and financial industry determined the order of finish based on which plans have the best chance to succeed and turn profitable.

The first-place International Distribution Solutions team of James O'Reilly, Steve Boycourt, and Tanner Sheehan developed a plan to provide warehousing and distribution solutions for medium- to small-size importing and exporting businesses that lack the scale needed to establish their own port facilities.

IDS plans to turn its initial focus on supply chain solutions for import and export companies that use the Port of Savannah and then expand to other ports. IDS team members said the growing volume of imports from Southeast Asia and the 2001 West Coast dock strike made it clear that access to an East Coast deepwater port can be critical to a business' supply chain. The IDS team said its warehouse facilities should be cash flow positive after the first year.

The third-place Webmasters International (WMI) team won the award for Best Written Plan and tied for second in the Best Verbal Presentation category. The team's goal is to offer Web development services, such as static Web site production, dynamic Web site programming, Web application security and cost-effective maintenance of a Web site's pre-existing custom software. While sales, marketing, installation and other services will be provided by employees in the U.S., WMI plans to outsource the development and updating of client websites overseas to keep costs competitive.

The Georgia Bowl is the nation's oldest regional business plan competition, founded by Terry College management professor Charles Hofer in 1991. Originally, only teams representing MBA programs in the state of Georgia were invited to compete, but the contest has since expanded to include teams from other regions, predominately from the Southeast.

Hofer, who advises the Terry College teams, said each team competing in the Georgia Bowl presents its plan for starting a new business venture to a panel of six judges. Judges evaluate the plans for feasibility, long-term potential, management team capabilities, risks versus rewards for investors, the quality of the written business plan, and the effectiveness of the team's oral presentation.

###