21st Annual John Ruffatto Business Plan Competition Results

Business Plan Competition

Scott Lester and Amy Xue Scott Lester of Moose’s Organics celebrates a long day of competing and ultimately winning the coveted first place in the high-growth division, totaling $8,000. He and his partner, Amy Xue, presented to a standing-room-only audience. Their business venture will export US organic agricultural goods to China. The Chinese subsidiary will then use these goods in a bakery to produce organic bread, cookies and pastries.

Students from Great Falls, Helena, Bozeman and Missoula submitted 26 business plans to this year’s competition. Judges narrowed the field to 15 for the semifinal round, which took place on Thursday, May 13th, 2010 on the UM campus.

Two dozen business professionals, mostly from Montana, but also from California, Washington and Colorado, judged the business plans on the quality of the idea, the strength of the management team, and the clarity and persuasiveness of the written and oral presentations.

To see a list of all the winners, click here. http://www.business.umt.edu/made/programs/biz.asp