Aspiring Entrepreneurs Compete for Cash Prizes in DePaul's Creativity Contest May 13

Nine aspiring entrepreneurs will compete for $2,025 in cash prizes when they present their business ideas to a panel of small business experts on May 13 at DePaul University's third annual Creativity Contest. Sponsored by DePaul's entrepreneurship program and the Coleman Foundation, the contest is designed to cultivate the entrepreneurial sprit.

The nine finalists will be chosen by DePaul faculty from a pool of candidates who have submitted business plan ideas. This year's competition has three categories, each to be judged separately: Chicago-area high school students, undergraduate college students, and the combined category of graduate students and members of the general public. The contest solicited ideas from the following fields: life and health sciences, sciences and humanities, physical and engineering science, and business and economics.

Finalists will make oral presentations of their business plans to judges during the public competition from 3:15 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in Room 8005 of the DePaul Center, 1 E. Jackson Blvd. Winners will be announced following the presentations. The event is free and open to the public. For information, call 312/362-8353.

Private Enterprise Network Symposium Will Be Held at DePaul on April 16

De Paul University's entrepreneurship program will sponsor a Private Enterprise Network (PEN) Symposium on April 16.

The annual event is designed to assist entrepreneurial firms in the Chicago area with their growth process. DePaul faculty chose an outstanding entrepreneurial business to present its business plan at the symposium so that the businesses can gain feedback from a panel of selected business experts and an audience of professionals.

This year's invitation-only symposium will feature America's Finest Pasta Sauces. Founded by David Gamperl, the Chicago-based mail-order business sends its members gourmet pasta sauce from the best Italian restaurants in the country each month. Gamperl developed the idea for the business while attending a business plan development class at DePaul. The company has exclusive distribution agreements with more than 20 famous Italian restaurants across the nation.

After only two years, the company achieved sales of $3.2 million and is one of the fastest growing mail-order companies in the country. "The purpose of the symposium is to assist businesses like America's Finest Pasta Sauces to expand into the next century and beyond," said Harold Welsch, the Coleman Foundation Chair in Entrepreneurship at DePaul.

For information, call 312/362-8353.

DePaul students win "Rookie of the Year" award at SIFE competition

A team of 15 students from DePaul's chapter of Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) have won a "Rookie of the Year" award for their entrepreneurial projects at the SIFE regional competition held on April 7 at the Rosemont Convention Center. The DePaul chapter, formed this year, has organized a business leader guest speaker series, repair work at housing projects, grocery deliveries to the elderly and a hunger awareness event. SIFE, a national non-profit organization formed in 1975, has chapters on college campuses around the world that seek to promote a greater appreciation and understanding of the free enterprise system. Forty SIFE chapters competed in the regional contest.