KU Freshman's Business Plan for Bilingual Tanning Salon Wins National Award

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KU Freshman's Business Plan for Bilingual Tanning Salon Wins National Award

A University of Kansas student has won a national award for the business plan he developed for a bilingual tanning salon to serve Kansas residents. His winnings include a $2,000 scholarship renewable annually for up to four years.



Lawrence, KS - infoZine- Julio Mata Jr., a Kansas City, Kan., freshman majoring in pre-business, earned first place for his presentation at the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation's BizFest training workshop and competition held Sept. 19-22 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He is the son of Julio and Araceli Mata and a graduate of Sumner Academy of Arts and Science.

BizFest teaches 17- to 25-year-old students a variety of business techniques. Experienced local and national business professionals instruct students in the process of building a business plan, networking skills, presentation techniques and how to identify business opportunities. Students work one-on-one with participating mentors at the regional and national levels during intensive business development and leadership training that lasts three and a half days.
KU freshman's business plan for bilingual tanning salon wins national award

In addition to the scholarship, Mata has been offered an eight- to 10-week summer internship with the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation in Washington, D.C., and a fully paid trip to the chamber's Legislative Conference to be held March 11-13 in Washington, D.C. Mata was also presented with a Sprint internship by Ralph Reid, vice president of corporate and social responsibility for the Sprint Foundation, Overland Park. National BizFest sponsors are Ford Motor Company Fund, Sprint Foundation and UPS.

To qualify for the national competition, Mata placed second at the regional BizFest held in April in Kansas City, Mo. It has been sponsored the last four years by Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City and Greater Kansas City Hispanic Collaborative.

"We are really proud of Julio," said Carlos Gomez, president and CEO of the Greater Kansas City Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. "This is the first time Kansas City has won first place. To jump to a first place nationally when he's competing against all the winners from other regions really shows how hard he worked."

The Kansas City event is the longest continuously running regional BizFest in the United States. This year, more than 36 students from 10 Kansas City-area high schools were chosen to take part in regional competition.

Also among those making the trip to the national BizFest was sixth-place and alternate qualifier Susana Rodriguez, a KU freshman from Kansas City, Kan., majoring in French and pre-medicine. She is the daughter of Mario and Mercedes Rodriguez and a graduate of Shawnee Mission North High School, Overland Park.

At the national BizFest, Mata and Rodriguez competed with about 30 regional winners including others from the Kansas City area plus Detroit, Mich.; New York, N.Y.; Philadelphia, Pa.; and Dallas and McAllen, Texas.

At the regional and national levels, Mata said he learned a great deal about the intense planning and work involved in being an entrepreneur.

"I would tell everyone who has a chance to attend BizFest even if you don't plan on going into business for yourself," said Mata, who hopes to pursue a career in international business.

Working with his trainers during the Kansas City regional event, Mata had a dilemma in picking a type of business. One trainer told Mata, "Grab a phone book. Open the pages and see what businesses pop up first." On the open pages were tanning salons - and off Mata went into late-night research to get his plan ready in time for the next morning's presentation. He perfected the plan for the business for nationals.

His national BizFest experience, he said, taught him the importance of being accurate with financial planning and being prepared to fully explain how he would repay the loan he had to take out to open his hypothetical business.

"You learn so much from so many people," he said. "The greatest experience came from the networking. We (every contestant) all helped each other. No one said, 'Oh, this is my plan. You can't see it or hear it.' We all just listened to each plan and helped each person be the best that he or she could be. I made friends that I will keep in touch with for a long time."

Source: http://www.infozine.com/news/stories...iew/sid/25276/