A company that wants to bring miniature golf to the expanding middle class in China and a venture to manufacture and distribute a point-of-use water filter in Cambodia won the grand prizes out of a pool of 17 teams competing in the 4th annual Carolina Challenge entrepreneurial business-plan competition held at Kenan-Flagler April 19.

"Carolina Liquid Assets," a team of students from Kenan-Flagler and the UNC School of Public Health, won first prize — the $15,000 John Stedman Social Entrepreneurship Award — for their business plan to manufacture and distribute ceramic water purifiers in Cambodia. They hope eventually to scale the operation throughout Southeast Asia and beyond.

The Challenge is a student-led project of the Carolina Entrepreneurial Initiative (www.unc.edu/cei), the pan-university effort to help UNC students, faculty and staff gain the knowledge and skills they need to launch sustainable businesses and nonprofits of all kinds - commercial, social, artistic and scientific.

Teams took home $50,000 in total prize money as well as solid expertise and networks to help them launch successful for-profit and nonprofit ventures of all kinds. Top prize winners were announced after an all-day final round of competition.

The Carolina Liquid Assets entrepreneurship project was developed through the Carolina Global Water Partnership — a research collaboration between Kenan-Flagler and the School of Public Health designed to evaluate options for commercializing different household water treatment technologies in developing countries.

"Carolina Liquid Assets was the nom de plume to compete in the Carolina Challenge and leverage the work that had already been done through the Carolina Global Water Partnership and specifically, to develop a business plan that is part of the deliverable that the Global Water Partnership is designed to produce," says Tom Outlaw (EMBA ’08), team captain of Carolina Liquid Assets.

The prize winners were:

• First place ($15,000 in commercial and social categories)
  • Commercial Track (The John Stedman Commercial Entrepreneurship Award) — Mei Lu (American Green/Beautiful Green), which plans to leverage the tremendous growth of golf in China and the country's growing middle class to introduce miniature golf.
  • Social Track (The John Stedman Social Entrepreneurship Award) — Carolina Liquid Assets, which plans to manufacture and distribute a ceramic water purifier to Cambodia's poor for both social and financial returns and the potential to scale the operation throughout Southeast Asia and beyond.
• Second Place ($7,500 in both categories)
  • Commercial Track — Applied Micro Products, introducing a line of products that use the group's patented, biodegradation-based time-release technology, including an environmentally friendly wood preservative product targeted to N.C. utilities for treatment of utility poles.
  • Social Track — Greener Greek Initiative, offering fraternity and sorority houses that wish to lessen their carbon footprint a custom-tailored energy auditing service, easy-to-understand renovation options, and reliable home-renovation specialists.

Honorable Mentions (two $750 awards in each category):

• Commercial Ventures:
  • Buddha Bowls, a fast-casual venture specializing in healthy stir-fry dishes planned to launch in airports, which have an abundance of busy travelers looking for wholesome meals-on-the-go.
  • HomeTownRent.com, providing online advertising for property managers and landlords to list residential rental property on locally branded Web sites in college towns and small- to medium-sized cities across the United States.
• Social Ventures
  • MedPlus, connecting under-served health systems with sources of surplus clean, usable medical supplies that are typically discarded by U.S. hospitals.
  • Village Expressions, selling original contemporary fine art from developing countries online to promote the intrinsic value of artistic expression and human connection throughout the world.
• People's Choice (one award of $1,000, chosen by audience vote) - Greener Greek Initiative
• Science Prize ($1,000 for the best scientific venture, sponsored by Liquidia Technologies Inc.) - WaterPLUS, providing an affordable and appropriate household water purifier based on ultraviolet light emitting diode technology to families lacking access to safe water.

First-place winners also received the Hutchison Startup Prize, a package of legal services valued at $2,500, awarded by the Hutchison Law Group of Raleigh, N.C.

These prize winners were among the 17 semi-finalist teams of UNC, faculty, staff and students chosen from the field of 70 teams that entered the Challenge this year.

Challenge teams receive a range of training seminars during the academic year to improve their business and presentation skills. These include a business-plan boot camp, a presentation workshop, a legal issues clinic and opportunities to observe real venture-capital presentations. Winners are chosen by panels of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, philanthropists and foundation executives. For more information, visit the Challenge Web site at www.carolinachallenge.org.