SEED Case Competition: Experience for students
The Utah State University Small Enterprise Education and Development internship program hosted its first SEEDxp competition, which challenged students to solve a real business problem one of SEED’s international partners has. The case was introduced to the teams of students on Oct. 21, and the teams presented their solutions on Oct. 28 to a panel of judges.
Each person on the winning team received $1,250 to help pay for a two-week SEED experience in Mexico.
Isaac Peterson, graduate student in engineering at USU who helped design the case, said they based this year’s competition on an individual named Luis —who sells nuts in Merida, Mexico —that he and other students worked with during their study abroad internship over the summer. Andy Thunell, program coordinator for the Center for Entrepreneurship and SEED internship manager, and Michael Glaser, executive director of the center, visited the students in Mexico while they were teaching Luis, which inspired the idea.
“[Luis] had a lot of passion for his business, but he had some problems that were really hard to overcome,” Peterson said. “So, the vision for SEEDxp was to come up with real, actionable ideas that people in the future could go and present to Luis and actually have him apply them in his business.”
Isaac Low, junior studying finance, was one of the members on the winning team. He said they had three solutions they came up with for the case. Their first solution was focused on having him offer a unique opportunity for customers.
“So, the problem Luis was running into was he couldn’t increase his production, nor did he want to outsource the labor for producing his nuts,” Low said. “He also didn’t want to raise his prices either, which makes it really hard to double the revenue. We decided one way he could double his revenue while not increasing prices or increasing production and adding extra labor would be through a culinary tourist experience. I’ve experienced this and seen it work in Italy, where people want to go and have an authentic experience watching someone cook.”
Low said the culinary tourist experience would have Luis cooking his batches of caramelized nuts while tourists could make a small batch for themselves alongside him.
The second solution they came up with was to create small gift bags of Luis’s raw nuts and sell them to businesses like Airbnb.
“I experienced this as I went to Hawaii last fall. We walked in, and there were some macadamia nuts,” Low said. “Something super simple, but it made us really happy. Merida is filled with tourists and has thousands of Airbnbs. We thought something super easy would be selling these small bags of nuts to them.”
Natalia Capote, sophomore studying veterinary science and marketing, was also a member of the winning team. She said their third solution was to find ways for Luis to get his horchata into stores in Merida.
Elise Gottling Anne McKay and Natalia Capote present during the Seedxp Case Competiton held at the Carolyn & Kem Gardner Learning & Leadership Building on Oct. 28.
“They have a co-packer there called Valle Redondo, and basically, we would bring them his family recipe and the design that he wants to put in stores,” Capote said. “The co-packer would then create his product, store his product and distribute it to Walmart and Oxxo, which are some pretty big companies.”
Capote said Luis is unable to afford the nutrition label required to sell in stores, and by partnering with the co-packing company, he wouldn’t have to pay for it.
According to Thunell, they decided to start hosting this competition to give students new opportunities within the SEED program. The students who won the competition will have the opportunity to interact with Luis and a handful of other entrepreneurs during the two weeks they are in Mexico.
“We want to get students involved in different programming opportunities, not only here in the business school but outside as well, because we believe that entrepreneurship is a pathway for everybody,” Thunell said. “If you can learn how to create value for different organizations or customers, if you launch a business, you’re going to be more successful.”
Low said his favorite part of the competition was when his team was brainstorming and figured out the three solutions they were going to present.
“It was in the dining hall of the Huntsman building. We were throwing ideas at the wall, and when these three ideas stuck, it felt right,” he said. “We walked away knowing we had just come up with three really good ideas, and to be able to divvy and delegate different slides and parts out is always a good feeling. I love when ideas are sparking and it finally comes together and you’re able to draw the full picture and see it completed.”
Capote said her favorite part of the competition was the hands-on learning opportunity it provided her, as well as the opportunity to work with other students she had never met before.
“I got to meet some amazing people along the way, like Isaac Low, Anne McKay and Jake Smith. It’s great because I don’t think I would have been that close with them if I hadn’t done the case competition, nor would I have learned all these lessons,” Capote said. “Even if we hadn’t won, I would still do that competition over and over again because it was just an amazing experience to talk to professors, connect with other students and hear the other presentations.”
Thunell said one of their goals for this competition was to help students learn about the opportunities the SEED internship program has to offer.
“One of the main reasons we hosted this competition, besides giving students an opportunity to have this experience, is to drive a little bit more knowledge about our program and create more visibility across campus,” Thunell said. “The program is highly subsidized, so students that are selected — even outside of the business school — are treated the same way and have the opportunity to spend a full semester abroad working with entrepreneurs and helping them produce a better livelihood for themselves.”
Peterson said he had a great experience with study abroad and felt he had the opportunity to change lives on his trip by helping business owners learn how to manage their businesses.
“If you’re looking for the most affordable and most influential study abroad or international experience at Utah State, SEED is the way to go,” he said. “It’s super cheap, and your heart will be changed forever.”
Students interested in getting involved with SEED can visit its website huntsman.usu.edu/seed.