SBA to facilitate middle school business competition

Morehead State University’s School of Business Administration (SBA) will facilitate a regional middle school entrepreneurial competition on Thursday, Nov. 29, at the Knott County Sportsplex. 

Approximately eight schools will bring approximately 111 students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades who won local entrepreneurial competitions. Students in the BBA 350 class will judge the competition based the following criteria:

• Application of science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics skills. 
• Application and understanding of business concepts. 
• Use of technology in the overall distribution and marketing of the product or service. 
• Prototype design and development. 
• Display for business. 
• Written business plan. 
• Overall research. 
• Oral presentation. 

Students will compete for first, second and third place in the competition, and cash prizes will be awarded at each level. First place will receive $80, second will receive $70 and third place will win $60. 

“Students will learn how to create a business and how to make an income from that business,” said Dr. Janet Ratliff, associate professor of management and entrepreneurship and instructor of the BBA 350 class. “Being an entrepreneur or small business owner allows one to have the opportunity to create jobs for those around them and to better the communities in which they live through economic development. It is our hope that as young men and women throughout our region begin to think about their future, the exposure to entrepreneurship will spark a desire in each of them to think about entrepreneurship as a viable future occupation regardless of the field they later pursue.” 

The competition is sponsored by the SBA, MSU’s Elmer R. Smith College of Business and Technology, the Booth Entrepreneurship Center, and the Kentucky Valley Education Cooperative.

For more information about the competition, contact Ratliff at j.ratliff@moreheadstate.edu or call 606-783-2390.

For information on MSU’s School of Business Administration, visit www.moreheadstate.edu/sba or call 606-783-2090.