Venture Challenge

SDSU team wins 17th Annual Venture Challenge

Wed Apr 5, 9:18 PM ET

San Diego State University's student team won the $15,000 first prize in the 17th Annual Venture Challenge this March, the third time an SDSU team has won the contest and the first time since 1999.

SDSU's team, Envirobinz, is an advertising company that aims to help communities and cities divert waste from landfills by providing aesthetic recycling receptacles installed at high pedestrian traffic locations. In addition to the $15,000 prize, the MBA student team won the $1,000 Golden Phone Award and the $500 prize as runner-up for the Social Innovation Award.Team coach Harvey Goodfriend said these students have the entrepreneurial spirit to lead them to real-world success. "I've been coaching teams for seven years now and this is the most outstanding one," he said. "Envirobinz is not a concept; they already have several important acquisitions. In fact, they already have several other businesses underway."

Currently, the team has a contract with National City, where their receptacles have helped increase recycling in the city by 30 percent, and the company is in negotiations with the city of San Diego. The team will participate in additional business plan competitions, including the Global Moot Corp 2006 Competition, the first and largest such event in the country, hosted by the University of Texas at Austin May 3-6.

"Winning is a great thing," said Prabakar Mahalingam, president and chief executive officer of Envirobinz and a student in SDSU's MBA program. "However, the bigger prize in the competition is finding investors, as well as receiving feedback from judges."

This year's Venture Challenge, organized by SDSU's Entrepreneurial Management Center, took place March 23-24 in the Mission Valley Hilton. Nineteen teams from all over the country and one from Sweden competed in this year's event. Students from University of California, San Diego's Rady School of Management placed second in their first attempt at the competition.

The Venture Challenge has launched several successful companies in the past, including Novadaq Technologies, a finalist in 2000 from the University of Manitoba. It raised more than $25 million in an initial public offering on the Toronto Stock Exchange in June 2005 and currently trades under the symbol NDQ.

Envirobinz has a long-term contract with National City to provide its attractive, functional recycling bins to areas of high pedestrian traffic. The bins, which contain a waste container as well, are designed to accept plastic, aluminum and glass bottles along with newspapers. They feature four advertising panels, which offset the cost of the bins and provide revenue that is split between Envirobinz and the city. "It's a win-win situation for the city, the company and the environment," Mahalingam told the Transcript last month. "We try to improve recycling so the city can meet the Integrated Waste Management Act."

The federal law mandates that cities divert at least 50 percent of their waste away from landfills or face fines of up to $10,000 a day. Mahalingam and his partners, San Diego State MBA candidate Cari Enayati and Shahin Enayati, have qualified for three other competitions this spring, including the exclusive Rice University Business Plan Competition in Houston later this month and the Moot Corp competition in Austin, Texas, in May. "We've been building a very exceptional business advisory board, composed of ex-founders and CEOs of companies," Mahalingam said. "We've had the opportunity to present to a number of advisers and experts in the industry."

The San Diego group came up with its idea two years ago and signed a contract with National City last September. The company has 23 bins placed around National City and plan on expanding to 200. "One (goal this week) is to win," Mahalingam said, "and No. 2 is to get funding. We're looking for funding to grow this company nationwide. As soon as we get the first check written, we're off and rolling."