Nghia
Thai and Nhu Y Mai won the top prize of $4,000 at the seventh annual CEO
Business plan with their business, Chi-X.
RAPID
CITY, SD (Dec. 8, 2020) — The seventh annual CEO Business Plan Competition at South
Dakota Mines was held
virtually last week with first place going to Nghia Thai and Nhu Y Mai for
their business, Chi-X.
The
CEO competition is themed after the popular television program “Shark Tank,”
which challenges entrepreneurs to present a business plan to a panel of expert
judges.
Chi-X
is a biomaterial company with a focus on fabricating advanced sponges to
control bleeding during surgeries. Thai and Mai, both master’s students in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, take home a $4,000 prize.
Other
winners are:
Second
place and a $3,000 prize – Kim Yip Chiok and his business BioTape, which
produces a medical bandage that increases the wound healing rate and reduces
pain. Chiok is a doctoral student in the Department of Nanoscience and
Nanoengineering.
- Third
place and a $2,000 prize - Kirstie Gildemeister for her business Itty Bitty
Acre LLC. The company is working to produce proton exchange membrane
electrocatalysts used in hydrogen fuel cell technology that will be affordable
and reliable. She is a graduate student in the Department of Materials Engineering and
Science.
- Best
Agricultural Plan and $1,000 prize – John Barbour and Allan Sipos, both chemical engineering majors, and Field Mitchell, a computer science major, for their business Ponica. The company
sells aeroponic gardens that are designed to support sustainable, healthy,
cost-effective living. The gardens will maximize yield by automatically
watering and fertilizing on a basis determined by sensors and machine learning.
The competition is open to all
West River high schools, as well as neighboring higher education
institutions Black Hills State University, Western Dakota Tech, National
American University, Chadron State College, Oglala Lakota College and
Sinte Gleska University. Participants in the South Dakota Mines CEO Program get
business plan training throughout the semester and receive assistance from the
Small Business Development Center in preparing financial statements, as well as
mentoring from local business leaders and South
Dakota Mines’ Entrepreneurs-in-Residence.
Teams who compete in the South Dakota Mines CEO Program
often take their business plans to compete statewide at the South
Dakota Governor’s Giant Vision Awards. Mines students who have competed
in the CEO Competition have gone on to win the Governor’s
Giant Vision Award the last six years.
In the past, student business plans have ranged from nanostructures that increase surface area for materials
inside LED bulbs to vortex generators.
CEO Competition sponsors include
Ascent Innovation, Big D Oil, Golden West Technology and Internet Solutions, Monument
Health, South Dakota Governor’s Office of Economic Development, South Dakota
Mines Office of the President, Darren Haar, Sioux Steel Company and West River
Electric Association.