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June 2008 Development Report:
Health care entrepreneur Richard Scott and his wife, Annette, recently contributed $300,000 to fund the Annette and Richard Scott Business Plan Competition at GW. The competition’s purpose is to encourage creative enterprise and the development of marketable ventures among GW students looking to create a business or develop a new initiative. The first competition will be held during the 2008-09 academic year and will be managed by the Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence. Awards will include $20,000 to help fund the winning business plan. “Speaking from experience, I know how difficult it can be to finance a start-up company,” says Richard Scott, founder, chairman, and CEO of Richard L. Scott Investments, LLC, and co-founder and chairman of Solantic, LLC, an operator of urgent care centers in Florida. “Ann and I are pleased to have the opportunity, through this competition, to award critical seed money to jumpstart new business ventures.” The Scotts, along with their daughter, Allison Marie Guimard—who earned her B.B.A. from GW in 2005—will help judge the inaugural competition. Guimard is the founder and president of Alijor, an online healthcare community based in California. “We’re a family of innovators,” says Richard Scott. “We understand that the spirit of philanthropy is just as important as the spirit of originality.” The two-round competition will include the submission of a written business plan and a presentation to a panel of judges comprising investors and business executives. Participants in the competition, which will be open to all GW undergraduate and graduate students, will be given the opportunity to network with and learn from the judges. Awards will be based on the written and oral presentations, as well the viability of the proposed company. John Rollins, professor of entrepreneurship at the School of Business, will direct the competition. An entrepreneur for more than 30 years before making the leap to academia in 2000, Rollins is looking forward to encouraging the creative talents of the University’s budding student entrepreneurs.
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