RADFORD – A silence fell across Bonnie Auditorium on Monday as eight Radford University students prepared to give a 90-second business pitch to a panel of four judges. One by one, the students stood before the panel and launched into a description of their original business idea, hoping their creativity would land them a generous top prize that could be invested in a business start-up.

The second annual RU Elevator Pitch Competition was in swing.

The popular competition -- held October 27-28 as part of the Entrepreneurial Summit, an event hosted by SunTrust, RU’s College of Business and Economics (COBE), and RU Collegiate Entrepreneurs -- was designed to provide entrepreneurial-minded students the ability to learn from successful executives and entrepreneurs.

Following Monday’s first round of pitches, all eight contestants were charged with taking suggestions and tips from the first panel of judges and refining their original pitch to present to a new panel of judges on Tuesday. When the combined scores from each judge were calculated, Nicholas Morgan was announced the winner during a luncheon on Tuesday. The top prize was a $1,000 scholarship and $750 in cash presented by prize sponsors SunTrust and the RU Parents & Family Fund.

Morgan (shown at right making his presentation), a senior marketing major from Covington, Va., presented an idea for AcousTek Industries, his three-month-old business based in Radford. Combining his passion for acoustic-based science and protecting people from the harm caused by unknown landmines, Morgan’s pitch focused on the creation of a speaker that would produce acoustical pressure and essentially shake and detonate landmines at a safe distance.

“My number one reason for creating this device was the safety of people,” said Morgan. “The current technology, which has been in existence since World War II, basically consists of chains welded on to a rotator that hits the ground and detonates the landmines. But the problem with that is that an operator is sitting in a cab directly above the deactivation, so that person is still in harm’s way.”

Morgan, who is currently seeking a patent for his invention, has already created the prototype and is working to implement it in standard military vehicles.

The second place winner of the Elevator Pitch competition was Anthonia Anamege (pictured at left), a first-year communications student who hails from Nigeria. Her business idea, the nonprofit Bookworm Foundation, focuses on getting children in Nigeria interested in reading.

Utilizing book donations from such sources as book publishers and nonprofit organizations, Anamege hopes to produce 120 “bookworms” per year. Her idea was an offspring of a book club she began two years ago in Nigeria.

A self-described entrepreneurial-minded person, Anamege hopes to utilize her prize money ($500 in cash and $750 in scholarship funding) to invest in the startup of Bookworm Foundation and her tuition.

The third place winner, Jovan Coker (right), pitched an idea for Car Care Detailers, a mobile hand wash and detailer service that caters to high-end businesses. According to Coker, a senior media studies major from Mechanicsville, Va., the idea is to bring his service to clients while they are at work so they come back to a spotless car at the end of the business day.

The business has already been in operation since the summer, and Coker counts one of the largest real estate companies in his hometown as a client. Coker received a $250 scholarship and $375 in cash.

Shields Luper (left), a senior finance and business management major from Richmond, Va., was named the fourth place winner and received $375 in cash. Luper’s pitch was Simply Par, a website dedicated to cataloguing all golf courses across the nation with reviews and comments posted by players, along with forums and the ability to record a player’s personal best at various golf courses. Luper has already started working on creating a database for the website with more than 2,000 golf courses featured so far. 

Ed Lawhorn, president of the New River Valley SunTrust Bank, and COBE dean Faye Gilbert, who provided guidance and support of this year’s summit, presented each of the winners with their awards.

The Entrepreneurial Summit also featured workshop presentations by nationally recognized speakers, including Angela Drummond, Juanita Thornton, Beverly Walters and John Signorello. Brian Patrick Cork, a 1984 RU graduate who was recently named among 2008 Catalyst Top 25 Entrepreneurs in Atlanta, was the keynote speaker as part of the SunTrust Distinguished Speaker Series during Tuesday's luncheon.

RU graduate Drummond is the founder and CEO of SiloSmashers, a firm that provides collaborative management consulting services. She has led client projects in strategic planning, knowledge management, large technology implementation and internal culture assessment. Drummond is a pioneer in developing the Cultural Integration Methodology, which focuses on corporate culture gap analysis and the integration of cultures during mergers or acquisitions.

Thornton, also an RU graduate, is the executive director of the Phoenix Start Clubhouse, a pre-vocational program for individuals with brain injuries located in Roanoke. Thornton has 21 years of experience in brain injury, mental health, special education, and early intervention. She is also the president of the board of the Brain Injury Resource and Development Center and the Roanoke Area Brain Injury Connection.

Walters is the executive director of NRV CARES, a nonprofit child abuse prevention agency in the New River Valley. Walters’ professional life mirrors her personal passion: to educate and engage people in creating a better life for children in the community.

Signorello is a RU graduate who has served as chairman of the board and CEO of IceWEB since March 2000. From 1991 to September 1997, Signorello served as the CEO of Solutions That Make Sense, a private technology company he founded that specialized in computer networks, system integration and information technology. Signorello is an accomplished musician, and serves as the principal of New York City Lights Entertainment.

Cork has raised more than $500 million dollars in private placement capital for a wide array of companies; recruited and counseled hundreds of executives and other decision-makers; and has actively participated in building numerous successful organizations. Cork has started up three companies, and his latest, briancork Human Capital, has been listed in Inc. 500’s fastest growing companies in 2007 and 2008. He is currently writing his first books: The CEO Handbook, Dear God: I Am Dancing In My Head, and This Would Be Jefferson’s View.

To learn more about the 2008 Entrepreneurial Summit, visit http://www.entrepreneurialsummit.com.