ALBA wins the European Business Plan of the Year Competition 2010!
The ALBA “On My Own Ltd” team, consisting of students of the Full-Time MBA Program, won the 1st Award at the Competition which took place on 28 -29 May 2010 at Cranfield School of Management, among teams from top European Business Schools. The team impressed the 13 judges they presented to, who clearly stated that the team’s business plan was one of the best they have seen in years, making their decision unanimous!
This success further enhances our first place in the Competition for the last 10 years since we possess the most awards: three 1st awards (2003, 2005 and 2010), two 1st runner-up awards (2006 and 2007) and one 2nd runner-up award (2008).
See the relevant Financial Times announcement on 15/06/2010 here /media/2474/ebpy-ftad-2010.pdf
About the Competition
The European Business Plan of the Year Competition is Europe's longest running Business Plan Competition. It was jointly created by INSEAD and London Business School in 1993 to encourage the teaching of entrepreneurship and the creation of new ventures. Now it has become an independent Foundation jointly ‘owned’ by the participating schools and the platform where students of Europe's leading MBA Schools compete for best new business plans and presentations.
Participating Business Schools
This year, the following leading Business Schools participated:
- ALBA Graduate Business School
- Cranfield School of Management
- EM Lyon Business School
- IESE Business School - University of Navarra
- Lisbon MBA Catolica/Nova
- London Business School
- Lund University
- Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University
- SDA Bocconi School of Management
- Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship
- University of St. Gallen
- Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School
- WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management
Winning Team
“On My Own Ltd” team consisting of ALBA Full Time MBA students Manos Athinaios, Fay Halkiadaki, Dimitra Oikonomou, Nikolaos Oikonomou and Dimitrios Vassiliadis, made an outstanding impression at the competition by presenting a solid and innovative business plan. The team was supervised by Dr. Vasilis Theoharakis, Associate Professor of Marketing & Entrepreneurship.
Winning Business Plan
The winning business plan suggests the development of innovative and easy-to-use devices for people with sensory disabilities.
Every 5 seconds one person loses his eyesight. Over 197 million people are visually impaired, 36 million of which are legally blind, while the number of blind is estimated to reach 75 million by 2020. “On My Own Ltd.” aims to improve the quality of life for people with sensory disabilities. Its initial product, “Touch & Hear”, is a multi-functional bracelet/watch that can identify objects and reproduce a recognizable sound for each one detected. A complementary product to T&H will be “Listen & Learn”, which is a Braille language learning method. A future product, the “Feel & See” bracelet, will facilitate the everyday life of the hearing impaired. The F&S will be able to recognize certain sounds and vibrate, therefore notifying its user.
The story so far...
ALBA participates at the Competition for the last decade and is the only Greek institution to have been invited. Detailed information about award winners of the last ten years is available in the table that follows.
Participations at the final stage of the Competition 2001-2010
1st and 2nd Awards
The ALBA faculty and staff wish to congratulate the winning team for their hard work, enthusiasm and commitment.
More info
For more information you may contact Ms Lida Komninou, +30 210 8964531, [email protected].
