UB Executive MBA Graduate Wins $25,000 in Annual Entrepreneur Competition

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Scott Carter, a 2002 graduate of the University at Buffalo Executive MBA program, has won the $25,000 first-place prize in UB's third annual Panasci Entrepreneurial Competition, which awards seed money to UB students and recent alumni who devise and present the best plans for launch of a viable new business in Western New York.

Carter, a Buffalo resident, won for his plan for an educational software venture called First Tracks, which will help teachers and administrators monitor the reading progress of their students against national benchmarks established by the U.S. Department of Education in its "Reading First" literacy program.

Targeted to elementary schools across the country, First Tracks' Early Literacy program will provide school officials with a universally practical software tool that will simplify the reporting and analysis of their literacy programs.

Carter will now advance to the Southwest Business Plan Competition at Rice University in Houston to compete for first, second and third prizes of $15,000, $10,000 and $5,000, respectively.

The winner of the Southwest Business Plan Competition will move to the internationally renown MOOT CORP finals. Candidates there will compete for a $100,000 equity investment, which will be in the form of convertible debt and considered an early bridge loan.

The Panasci Competition's second-place prize of $15,000 was awarded to Yali Friedman of Toronto, a UB doctoral student in biochemistry. Friedman's proposed enterprise, thinkPharm, is an online database system that will provide timely competitive intelligence on the pharmaceutical industry, especially information about drug patent expiration dates. Potential clients include pharmaceutical companies, patent attorneys and stock-market investors.

Carter and Friedman received their awards at the competition's final round, where they and four other teams of finalists publicly presented their business plans to panel of judges, which

included representatives from Strategic Investment & Holdings, Inc., Harris Beach, LLP, M&T Investment Group, Rand Capital Corporation and Seed Capital Partners.

A total of 16 teams, composed of students and alumni from various academic units at UB, competed in this year's contest, which is organized by the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership in the UB School of Management.

The competition is funded by a $1 million endowment from UB School of Pharmacy alumnus Henry A. Panasci, Jr, chairman of the Cygnus Management Group of Syracuse and former CEO of Fays Inc. Panasci created the contest to encourage the entrepreneurial interests of UB students and alumni and to promote the development and launch of new businesses.