TCU's Values and Ventures Competition Rewards Students Who Believe Business Can Be a Force for Good

Sure, college students want to make money, but many of them also want to make a difference. We invited them to TCU April 5-6 to show us how, and give them a chance to win $100,000 in cash prizes.

April 03, 2019

By Elaine Cole

They come from as far away as Scotland and Nigeria, and as close as TCU and SMU. 

College students from 56 universities in the United States, Canada, Scotland, Poland, Nigeria and Bangladesh are coming to TCU April 5-6 to pitch ideas for businesses that make a difference while making a profit. 

They’ll vie for more than $100,000 in cash prizes to make those ideas a reality, thanks to TCU’s ninth annual Richards Barrentine Values and Ventures® Competition. 

This is not like any other college business plan competition. These inspiring students will present ideas for businesses that also benefit the community, the environment or a specific population. Past winners include mattress recycling plants that employ former inmates, accessible, affordable autism treatment and modernized communications systems for organ transplants. 

The competition is presented each year by the TCU Neeley Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Co-founders are Dallas real estate and technology entrepreneurs Nancy Tartaglino Richards and Lisa Barrentine of First Preston HT. 

More than 100 DFW business professionals serve as judges and mentors. 

All 56 teams will compete in Round 1 Friday morning, April 5, at TCU’s Brown Lupton University Union, in seven simultaneous flights. The top team from each flight will advance to the Final Round Saturday, April 6. Second-place teams from each flight will compete in Round 2, a lightning round Friday afternoon. The top two teams from the lightning round will also compete in the Final Round on Saturday. 

The TCU team will present at 12:40 p.m. Friday in Round 1. 

Adding another chance to win, all teams will compete in an elevator pitch competition Saturday. 

Winners will be announced Saturday afternoon at the Champions Club in Amon G. Carter Stadium.

Grand Prize is $40,000; second place is $25,000; third place is $15,000; and six honorable mentions receive $2,500 each. Additional special cash awards and cash prizes for the elevator pitch competition add thee chance for winning. 

2019 Participating Values and Ventures® Universities are:

American University Auburn University Babson College Bangladesh University of Professionals Brigham Young University California Lutheran University California Polytechnic University-San Luis Obispo California State University-San Bernardino Federal University of Technology, Nigeria Ferris State University Fort Hays State University George Washington University Georgia Institute of Technology Grand Valley State University Iowa State University Johns Hopkins University Lake Forest University Loyola Marymount University Miami University of Ohio Michigan State University New Jersey Institute of Technology Northern Kentucky University Northwestern University Oklahoma State University Quinnipiac University Saint Leo University San Diego State University Southern Methodist University

St. Mary’s University Syracuse University Texas A&M University Texas Christian University  United States Air Force Academy  University of Arkansas University of California-Irvine University of Delaware University of Florida University of Houston  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign  University of Missouri-Kansas City University of New Mexico University of Oregon University of Pennsylvania University of Strathclyde, Scotland University of Texas at Austin University of Texas at Dallas University of Incarnate Word University of Virginia University of Waterloo, Canada University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Walsh University Warsaw School of Economics, Poland Wartburg College Washburn University Washington University in St. Louis West Virginia University

For more information: www.neeley.tcu.edu/vandv

Follow the action and awards announcements on Twitter @NeeleySchoolTCU #valuesandventures and Facebook www.facebook.com/neeleyschoolofbusinessattcu. The public is welcome at all stages of the event. A full schedule is available at www.neeley.tcu.edu/vandv.