Throughout the semester, our students in the H. Milton School of Industrial and Systems Engineering had the remarkable opportunity to unleash their entrepreneurial potential in the inaugural ISyE Entrepreneurial Competition, founded by ISyE alumnus Sam Millson.

Sam Millson is the Founder of The Millson Group, a consulting and investing firm that specializes in helping small to medium-sized businesses achieve growth and efficiency.

Millson conceptualized this competition as a means to ignite students' passion for applying their classroom knowledge and innate curiosity to the realm of entrepreneurship with industrial engineering principles. 

Collaboratively, the students embarked on the task of crafting comprehensive business plans that could attract future investments.

Comprising two essential components, the competition encompassed both entrepreneurial workshops and final presentations. 

Throughout the workshops, Millson adeptly guided the participating teams in developing robust business models, devising strategic budgets, and formulating effective differentiation strategies.

The overarching objective was to equip the teams with the essential skills and knowledge necessary to actualize a viable and implementable business plan.

Our first-place winners, Chris Kontomaris, Sydney Mudd, and Jada Wilson were collectively awarded $7,500 to continue their investments toward developing ADU-IQ, revolutionizing the home-building industry by offering builders a streamlined solution to assess their customers' eligibility, eliminating upfront costs and simplifying the screening process.

"What makes this competition unique is the long-term vision that focuses on multiple workshops over the course of the semester so other entrepreneurial like-minded industrial engineering students can meet. That, along with the emphasis on IE principles, and working directly with Sam Millson, made this experience encouraging for real-life opportunities," says Chris Kontomaris.

Winning Teams:

Team Name: ADU-IQ

Winning Prize: $7,500

Members: Chris Kontomaris, Sydney Mudd, Jada Wilson

Team Name: DockOps

Winning Prize: $2,500

Members: Kathryn McCarthy, Devanshu Tiwari

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Sponsored by The Millson Group.

Author: Camille C. Henriquez