Amber Sharp, Michael Woods and Tammy Sims
MAGNOLIA – A group of students from the Southern Arkansas University School of Graduate Studies competed recently in the state finals of the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup business plan competition.
With one of the largest cash prize pools in America, the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup business plan competition encourages students attending any Arkansas two or four year college or university to act on their ideas and talents in order to produce tomorrow’s businesses. Since it began in 2001, more than 1,000 students have participated, and the students and their advisors have received more than $900,000 in prize money.
This year marked the first time that a team from Southern Arkansas University had advanced to the final round of state competition. Amber Sharp and Michael Woods, students in the Master of Business Administration program, and Tammy Sims, a student in the Master of Public Administration program, competed as the B.O.L.D. Management Group. Dr. Jeramy Meacham, assistant professor of management, was the group’s advisor.
Breath Of Life for Diabetes – or B.O.L.D. for short – is a medical operations company that delivers the “Deemed Study” of pulsatile intravenous insulin therapy (PIVIT) from Global Infusions to qualified participants. PIVIT is modeled after a protocol developed by Harvard University and the Mayo Clinic. Extensive research spanning over 20 years verified that the therapy helps to stabilize or decrease kidney dysfunction, improve retinopathy, digestion, wound healing and neuropathy. It is the only treatment shown to arrest and reverse the debilitating effects of diabetes.
The group’s vision statement says that “to decrease the mortality rate of people with diabetes, B.O.L.D. will team up with the finest physicians across the country to provide exclusive PIVIT procedures, hire and retain the most qualified staff to administer PIVIT procedures, and expand PIVIT procedures to every state in the United States.”
The students’ business plan projected that each location administering the PIVIT procedures would have a net profit of $100,000, and that within a few years B.O.L.D. would be a multi-million dollar company.
For more information on the Governor’s Cup competition or the B.O.L.D. Management Group, contact Meacham at (870) 235-5156.
