On May 15^th 2024, the final of the 9^th “SHNU-WSU Business Plan Competition” organized in collaboration by Shanghai Normal University (SHNU) and Weber State University (WSU) was held in Xuhui Campus of SHNU, with 15 teams competing in the final. The 9^th “SHNU-WSU Business Plan Competition” officially kicked off in October 2023, with 50 teams consisting of 240+ students signed up for the preliminary round. After two rounds of selection by the Goddard School of Business & Economics (GSBE) WSU, top 15 teams were announced in April 2024. In May 2024, SFB SHNU invited Prof. Clifford Nowell (Professor in Economics at GSBE WSU) to deliver a week of intensive training and customized guidance for the 15 teams that entered the pre-final. After the pre-final held during May 13^th - 14^th, 7 teams were selected to present on stage in the final.

The judges for the final include: Prof. Doris STEVENSON (Dean of GSBE WSU), Prof. Clifford NOWELL (Professor in Economics at GSBE WSU), Ms. Cecilia BRASSIER (Deputy Director of UFR Langues Culture et Communication (LCC), l'Université Clermont-Auvergne (UCA)), Assoc. Prof. Pascal BRASSIER (Associate Professor at IAE Clermont Auvergne), Assoc. Prof. Baohua YANG (Associate Professor at Department of Finance, SFB), and Ms. Qi WANG (faculty member at Department of Economics, SFB). During the final, each competing team delivered a 7-minute presentation in English on their business plan; after carefully listening to each team, the judges commented on their performance and asked targeted questions. In the 7-minute presentations, representatives of each team introduced their business plans in English enthusiastically and confidently within the specified time, and calmly answered judges' challenging questions.

Judges at the Finalof the 9^th “SHNU-WSU Business Plan Competition”

Finally, after prudent evaluation by and discussions among six judges, Team Companion won the First Prize with their project “Companion”, winning a reward of $5,000; Team Stellar won the Second Prize with their project “Angel's Second Life”, winning a reward of $3,000; and Team Superstar won the Third Prize with their project “Taste of Food”, winning a reward of $2,000.

First Prize Winner: Team Companion

Second Prize Winner: Team Stellar

Third Prize Winner: Team Superstar

The “SHNU-WSU Business Plan Competition” is open mainly to current SHNU students, enrolling participants in teams (2-6 members/team); team leaders need to be current SFB students, while other team members could be current students from SHNU's other schools/colleges, current students from peer universities, and/or current SFB international students. The “SHNU-WSU Business Plan Competition” aims to help university students with innovative mindset to transform their creativity and ideas into relatively well-structured prototypes through guidance and training, to lay a solid foundation for their future work and possible startup careers. Additionally, the Competition is launched completely in English, which requires participants not only to present their ideas in written English, but also to introduce the essence of their business plans in oral English within 7 minutes, and to answer the judges' impromptu questions. By all these means, the Competition greatly enhances students' communication skills in English both orally and in writing.

The “SHNU-WSU Business Plan Competition” is a large-scale entrepreneurship event for university students, which is held annually by the School of Finance and Business (SFB) at Shanghai Normal University (SHNU) and Goddard School of Business & Economics (GSBE) at Weber State University (WSU). The Competition is sponsored by WSU, and hosted by SFB in Xuhui Campus of SHNU. Since the first session of the Competition in 2012, the two universities have cooperatively organized 9 sessions of the Competition, enrolling a total number of 3,000+ student participants. Thus far, the Competition has become an important platform for cross-border and cross-cultural exchanges. One of SFB's missions is to educate innovative business minds, and the aim of the “SHNU-WSU Business Plan Competition” is in highly alignment with this mission; in addition, holding the “SHNU-WSU Business Plan Competition” is one of SFB's important initiatives to cultivate innovative talents with an international vision.

(Contribution: SFB International Affairs Department)