Congratulations to NYPL StartUP! Winner and Finalists

Last night, the Science Industry and Business Library (SIBL) announced the winners of their second annual New York StartUP! Business Plan Competition  which is in partnership with the Citi Foundation. As I did last year, I had the pleasure of being one of the judges and once again was very impressed with many of the finalists who presented to us last month.

The winner, who won a $15,000 prize, was Denise Adusei who is launching the Peartree Preschool in Harlem.  Personally, I was blown away by her business plan. I have never seen a business plan that had all of the right elements which was not only a function of Adusei being thorough, but having a very clear mission of what she wants to do. She also brought on the right partners like Columbia University who needs to provide day care for the kids of their employees. 

The other finalists are:

• Lillian Lee, who is building The Grand Assembly, a curated online community that showcases and promotes the creative work of those 60 years or older.
• Davinder Singh, for his business, Kashpile, a money management and shopping system that helps kids become financially responsible.
• Brian Foo of GiveLoop, which has a great concept to help non-profits raise money.
• Jon Gray and Elizabeth Kim of Jon Gray International, which is an eco-friendly fashion company.

Best wishes to all of the participants.  For those who want to participate in the 2012 competition, check out www.nypl.org/bizplan.