Fourth Place: Julie Thatcher - The Southeast Waffle Company - University of Alaska Southeast - USA

At any given time during business hours at the Southeast Waffle Company of Auke Bay, Alaska, USA, you will find a combination of customers including elementary students on a field trip from the nearby school, commercial fisherman in harbor for a few hours, business persons meeting with clients, and university students studying together for tests. The goal of the SEWCO is to make provide a community oriented, fun and comfortable atmosphere for all ages of customers. It is located just 5 minutes from the University of Alaska Southeast, they offer free Wi-Fi, long hours, great food, high quality espresso, and comfy couches. In January of 2004 Julie was a 19 year old college student when she successfully started a company that is continuing to grow. As an entrepreneur, she is continually evaluating the next step both in her business and her personal goals. In June 2007 the Waffle Co. expanded in size and menu. Employees have increased from six to 16, and sales continue to rise. What did not change was the owner’s ommitment to serve the best product possible, to support local community groups, especially those connected with the University of Alaska Southeast, and to maintain the standards which resulted in her Alaska Youth Friendly Business Award in 2005.


Fifth Place: Jonathan Manzi - Vintage Network, LLC - Stanford University - USA

Vintage Network, LLC is a firm concerned with “What’s Next.” In December of 2006, company founder Jonathan Manzi identified an inefficiency in the marketplace that yielded economical loss for its participants. Manzi tailored a business model that, through optimization principles, not only corrected the inefficiency, but established previously nonexistent ethical standards. The spirit of innovation at the heart of the company’s inception continues to fuel it today. Committed to servicing the most cutting-edge demands, under the leadership of Jonathan Manzi, Vintage Network, LLC, provides lasting, high-net-impact solutions that benefit society. Intertwined with the core functions of society – labor, capital goods generation, trade -- entrepreneurship extends far beyond the walls of board rooms and offices. Entrepreneurs play an instrumental role in the advancement of society and the bolstering of life quality. Manzi’s determination to succeed as an entrepreneur roots itself in his firm belief that society profis when businesses profit. According to Manzi, entrepreneurs who create successful companies in the free market are, in effect, humanitarians. By profiting immensely, he is giving back to fellow man immensely. www.vintacore.com

Social Impact Award: Richard Littlehale – YouRenew.com – Yale University, USA

Innovation Award: Milun Tesovic – MetroLeap Media, Inc. – Simon Fraser University, Canada

Lessons From The Edge Award: Lawrence Kim – Ebenezer NDT Services Pvt. Ltd. – Singapore Management University, Singapore

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2008
First Place: Dominic Coryell – Husky Express – Northeastern University, USA

Dominic Coryell, a senior finance/accounting major at Northeastern University's College of Business Administration. Coryell, CEO and equity partner of Garment Valet, formerly Husky Express, was awarded first prize for the high-tech laundry and dry cleaning services offered by Garment Valet. Coryell was also given the Innovation Award for the company’s implementation of a fully-automated process that provides high-quality, next-day delivery and pick up of garments, creating efficiencies not commonly associated with the industry. Coryell started working at Husky Express his freshman year as a delivery truck driver and became an equity partner and CEO of Husky Express after only a year. His strategic vision and insight has helped shape the success of the company, whose 2008 revenues approach $850,000. Recently, Husky Express changed its name to Garment Valet. Husky Express is the parent company and will continue to power Garment Valet and will advance the locker, software and security software into new industries.

About Garment Valet
GARMENT VALET®, powered by Husky Express, is a laundry and dry cleaning delivery service that caters to residents of multi-unit housing facilities in Boston by placing a digital locker system, a virtual concierge of sorts, in common areas for all the residents to share.  It is similar to a vending machine, but engineered specifically for wash-dry-fold and dry-cleaning.  If there is no space for a locker, the company also has the ability to offer unattended delivery by obtaining a key. In-person or office delivery is always available as well.  The convenience this machine offers is three fold; it eliminates the need to carry garments to the dry cleaners, it saves time for those who want an alternative to self-service wash-dry-fold, and it eliminates the hassle of in-person delivery and the time constraints involved by securing typical unattended delivery. Source: www.neu.edu/nupr/news/1108/Coryell_GSEA_Award_1.html

Second Place: Joseph Pascaretta – Alps International – University of Michigan, USA

Joseph Pascaretta takes second place in the world and the Lessons from the Edge Award for his company Alps International. Alps International is a product solutions company comprising of Alps Technology International, The Alps Lawn Company, and Alps Holding. Alps Technology was founded by Joseph A. Pascaretta, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and co-founder, Aaron D. Dowen, President and Chief Technology Officer. In 1999, Mr. Pascaretta and Mr. Dowen began Alps by delivering website solutions and consulting services. After their first contract, sales grew into seven states with more than fifteen employees in 2001. In May 2002, Mr. Pascaretta decided to begin a joint venture, The Alps Lawn Company. Today, The Alps Lawn Company is one of Michigan’s most prestigious horticultural management companies. In addition to running two successful companies, Pascaretta enjoys flying planes with his private pilot license.

Third Place: Seth Flowerman – Career Explorations, LLC – Cornell University, USA

Seth Flowerman takes third place and the Social Impact Award for his company, Career Explorations, LLC for the 2008 GSEA in Chicago.

Career Explorations, LLC , a business that he launched at just 16 years old, that matches exceptional high school students with mentors and summer internship opportunities in New York City and Boston

After a successful summer internship in high school, Flowerman launched Career Explorations to help other high school students find similar positions. He started the business with $25,000 and brought it to profitability in its first year. Since then the company has hosted more than 400 students in internships in a variety of fields including advertising, fashion, finance, medicine, politics, and law to name just a few. Vertex Academic Services evolved as an offshoot of Career Explorations as many of Flowerman's clients requested academic consulting and test-preparation services. Between the two companies, Flowerman employs more than 40 full- and part-time employees in New Jersey, Manhattan, and Boston.

This award adds to Flowerman's growing list of accolades, including the Junior Achievement International Student Entrepreneur of the Year (2004), one of the top three Kaplan Most Promising Campus CEO's (2007), and BusinessWeek's 25 Entrepreneurs under 25 (2008). He has also been featured in Forbes, The Boston Globe, and Yahoo! Finance. Source: www.johnson.cornell.edu/news/flowerman.html

Social Impact Award: Seth Flowerman – Career Explorations – Cornell University, USA

Innovation Award: Dominic Coryell – Garment Valet – Northeastern University, USA

Lessons From The Edge Award: Joseph Pascaretta – Alps International – University of Michigan, USA

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2007
First Place: Fraser Doherty - SuperJam - University of Strathclyde, Scotland
 
Fraser Doherty is currently an Undergraduate Accountancy student at The University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. He began making homemade jam using his Grandmother’s recipes at the age of fourteen, selling his produce to neighbors and at church fetes. Within eighteen months, he decided to leave school and work on his idea full-time for a year before starting University.
During this ‘gap year’, Fraser developed a highly innovative set of recipes for manufacturing jams entirely from fruit and fruit juice. He also decided to use fruits high in nutrients, ‘Super Fruits’, in his recipes and develop fun and modern branding for the range. Soon, Waitrose gave Fraser a contract to supply their 184 stores with his ‘SuperJam’. This launch was accompanied by prime time news coverage and Fraser has since secured contracts to supply other large retailers in the UK and Ireland, such as the UK’s largest grocer; Tesco.

Second Place: Kendal Harazny - TicketGold - University of Alberta, Canada
 
Kendal Harazny is a 5th year Commerce student with a Finance major at the University of Alberta School of Business, with an expected graduation date of April 2008. Kendal began his post-secondary education in Regina, Saskatchewan in the Secondary Education program studying to be a high school math teacher. Quickly realizing that he had a passion for the rapidly evolving and constantly changing business world, along with the creating and growth of his company, TicketGold, Kendal decided to move to Edmonton, Alberta to obtain a Commerce degree.

Kendal is the sole proprietor of TicketGold, founded in October, 2003. TicketGold is a ticket brokerage company providing premium and sold out event tickets to private and corporate clients throughout North America. TicketGold employs over twenty people and has had rapid growth year over year.

He was recently awarded the 2007 ACE CIBC Canadian Student Entrepreneur of the Year. He was named as one of Edmontonian’s Sizzling 20 under 30. His company, TicketGold, has been named #8 in the 2007 PROFIT magazine’s “Canada’s 50 Hottest Emerging Growth Companies.” He was also awarded the PROFIT Young Entrepreneur Award, and is the youngest CEO to ever be listed on the PROFIT Hot 50 list - at age 22. In his spare time, he enjoys snowboarding, wakeboarding, and travelling. Kendal is also very involved within the School of Business as the co-chair for RoundTable 08, the most prestigious undergraduate business student conference in Canada.

Third Place: Erik Fjellborg - Calnet - Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden
 
At age 17, during his last year in high-school, Erik founded Calnet (Calendar-Networks). The business plan was to create a web-based scheduling tool that would save time for McDonald’s management and staff. The system was first launched at a local restaurant and soon spread to other cities and restaurants. Today 170 McDonald’s restaurants in Sweden are licensed for the application and agreements with two additional McDonald’s countries are signed. In February 2008 McTime will be used at more than 1500 McDonald’s stores.

McTime has been a great success among the McDonald’s staff, of whom 30% visits McTime at least once a day and 80% at least once a week. The high usage has resulted in a valuable ‘business community portal’ which has been used for communication of all sorts. In October 2007 Calnet merged with UCMS Group. Becoming a part of UCMS is a big and important step in the global development of the company as it offers benefits in a number of areas. Erik is also a part of the UCMS global management team.

Erik is very interested in political and entrepreneurial issues and is a member of the Swedish Junior Achievement Young Enterprise (JA-YE) national association Board. He is also an experienced speaker as a result of numerous classes, seminars and lectures on various aspects of entrepreneurship and its challenges. Erik is the youngest CEO ever to have been invited to the CEO-CF (CEO Collaboration Forum).

Social Impact Award: Fraser Doherty - SuperJam - University of Strathclyde, Scotland

Innovation Award: Erik Fjellborg - Calnet - Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden

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2006
(Note: 2006 was the first year GSEA awarded Second and Third Place)

First Place: Michael Brown - Modbargains.com - Chapman University, USA
 
Mike Brown has had an entrepreneurial spirit all of his life. This 21-year-old recent graduate of Chapman University seizes opportunities as they arise. Thus, he began his company http://www.modbargains.com/ in 2004.  

Brown, who intends to continually strive for success, understands the importance of relationships, both personal and professional, because he believes relationships are what really matter and leave a lasting legacy.

When not working to build his business and his relationships, Brown enjoys travel, visiting places like Tanzania, Zanzibar, Greece, Turkey, London. He intends to continue this exploration of the world throughout his life. Brown also enjoys tennis, poker and cars. The latter interest should come as not surprise, as his business sells customized car accessories and upgrades, primarily for BMW, Mercedes, Audi and Volkswagen.
 

 Second Place: Paul Scheiter - Hedgehog Leatherworks - St. Louis University, USA
 
Paul Scheiter has always been an innovator at heart. His company, Hedgehog Leatherworks, is simply the most recent embodiment of that.  

This St. Louis, Missouri, USA native, now a 22-year-old senior at St. Louis University, sees Hedgehog as just the first step. Starting his first business served as a milestone for Scheiter as well as a tremendous opportunity for growth, but it is really only the beginning of a lifestyle that he is trying to build. Ultimately, Scheiter intends to own a variety companies, like Hedgehog Leatherworks, that allow him to develop his personal interests and share them with others.

When not working on the business, Scheiter enjoys rock climbing, studying wilderness survival skills or reading, all leisure activities that help develop a strong mental foundation and prepare him for the challenges he faces in other areas of life.
 

Third Place: Michael Scissons - General Entertainment Corporation - University of Saskatchewan, Canada
 
Growing up in Saskatoon, a small city in the heart of Western Canada, many would argue that Michael Scissons started on the ground floor of the business world. At age 5, when most kids were busy playing in the park, young Scissons began his business career.  
What started as a corner lemonade stand turned into a network of franchised refreshment outlets throughout the neighborhood. By age 7, Scissons’ refreshment business was thriving, but he turned his sights to the higher margin opportunities of yard service. Similar to the successful model that he had built in the refreshment business, Scissons focused his efforts on running the business and generating sales while hiring friends to serve his customers. His business continued to thrive until 1997 when, at 13, he found himself facing a new challenge— business opportunities on the Internet.
By 14, Scissons had launched 10-20 Interactive, a full service internet studio. He successfully ran this company and managed complex E-commerce websites, corporate sites and even a NASDAQ listed customer until 17. His innovation continued as he was the first to launch residential real estate virtual reality tours into his home marketplace.

At 18, Scissons realized that his passion was building branded event properties and experiential marketing campaigns. In just four years, while attending the University of Saskatchewan full time, he built what would become his largest venture. His company, General Entertainment Corporation, developed and executed some of Saskatchewan’s most successful youth branded events and sponsorship programs. During his University career, Scissons contributed more than CAN$1 million to his provincial economy.

Faced with graduation at 22 in 2006, he decided to move on to new opportunities and sold his assets and properties. He then engaged in a North American tour, meeting with more than 25 executives at top marketing corporations seeking the ultimate apprenticeship. He found the ideal opportunity to fine tune his skills as an entrepreneur working alongside branding titan Rob Segal, President and Chief Creative Officer at Segal Communication Inc. in Toronto. Scissons is now refining his entrepreneurial abilities, strategizing and marketing for multi-million dollar international brands in Canada’s largest city.

Social Impact Award: Thomas Jönsson – Repsam – Lund University, Sweden

Innovation Award: José Ferrer – Geniuz Mindz – Sacred Heart University, Puerto Rico
 
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2005
First Place: Adam Blake - B&B Acquisitions - Texas Christian University, USA
 
Adam Blake is a junior at Texas Christian University majoring in Finance and Entrepreneurial Management.  Adam has always been interested in the theory and practice of investing money.  Early in his freshman year, Adam noticed that TCU students were spending enormous amounts of money to rent houses, and saw an opportunity to begin investing in rental properties. His freshman year, he earned his Texas real estate license and formed B&B Acquisitions, LLC with a partner.  

After forming the company, he began conducting due diligence and found a few properties with astonishing returns. Adam acquired four properties his first summer at TCU and rented them all out to students. Since then, B&B Acquisitions has moved on to property management, buying and selling for short term gains, and commercial real estate investment and development.   B&B Acquisitions currently owns and manages an investment portfolio worth nearly $1,000,000 that contains real property, stocks, and options.  Adam is currently raising capital for his new company, Blake Venture Corp., which he hopes to ultimately turn into a real estate investment trust.

Social Impact Award: Narcedalia Lozano Garza - La Paz Comienza con los Ninos - Monterrey Institute of Technology, Mexico

Innovation Award: Felix Poll - Poll and Flox - Universidad Interamericana Recinto de Arecibo, Puerto Rico 

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2002
First Place: Nick Tostenrude - EnableMart - University of Portland, USA
 
Nick Tostenrude just graduated from the University of Portland in Electrical Engineering. He began his business, EnableMart after meeting his partner, Dennis Moulton, during their freshman year. EnableMart began as an educational/rehabilitation software company based on the research of Moulton’s father but soon switched their focus to individuals with disabilities. They found that there was a missing link between the assistive technology manufacturers and the individuals who could benefit the most from their products. EnableMart began assisting individuals in the search for assistive-technology solutions.
The company’s major goal is to build awareness, increase the number of individuals using assistive technologies, and thus provide a link to the benefits that computer hardware, software, and related technologies have to offer them. They currently sell hundreds of products and enabling devices. In addition to its sales, the company performs contract work for Microsoft Corp. and Goodwill Industries to help support their mission in the disability industry. In addition, EnableMart is dedicated to helping society. Fifteen percent of its profits are given back to non-profit organizations selected by EnableMart’s customers.

Social Impact Award: Michael McMyne - McMyne and Associates - Spring Hill College, USA

Innovation Award: Arman Daie - Linear Communication - Georgetown University, USA
 
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2001
First Place: Patsy Gaut - St. Helen’s Ash Creations - Centralia College East, USA
 
Patsy Gaut has, since 1994, been blending clay, with the ash that came from the erupted Mt. St. Helens, to produce unique keepsakes and ornaments, which she sells through her business. She first began selling Christmas ornaments in the local drug store. Her business, St. Helen’s Ash Creations, has grown across the US as well as in Canada, Ireland, Turkey, Guam, and Japan.

In 1998 Gaut decided to enroll in college to finish the degree that she started thirty-two years earlier. During that time she began designing a new product for scrapbook / memory books. Quick Quotes is a form of instant journaling that touches peoples’ emotions. Gaut is now marketing both products to businesses and catalogs. What is unique about Gaunt’s company is her criteria for hiring employees. She seeks help those who need an outlet from depression, recovering from addictions and those in need of acceptance. She feels that the growth, comfort and well being of her employees are a big part of how she measures success.

In the next few years, she will finish her education with an emphasis in Web and Graphic Design at Centralia College East in Washington. She also hopes to expand her business to create new products in the ever-changing market.

Social Impact Award: Eric Valenzuela - C. A. T. S. - Loyola Marymount University, USA

Innovation Award: Courtney Hennessey - Codi Jewelry - St. Louis University, USA

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2000
First Place: Javier de Lope Frances - Instituto Technologico y de Estudios Superirores de Monterrey, Mexico

Social Impact Award: Jose Gabriel & Cordero Jimenez - University of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico

Innovation Award: Terry Hillery – Powerful Solutions -  Spring Hill College, USA

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1999
First Place: Maisie Jane Bertagna - Butte College, USA

Social Impact Award: Clint Runge – Archrival - University of Nebraska, USA

Innovation Award: Esteban Gonzales Guzman – Grupo Nexus - Instituto Technologico y de Estudios Superiores, Mexico