Kent State's College of Business Administration's Pi Sigma Epsilon Holds Shark Tank Competition

KENT, Ohio - July 13, 2016 - PRLog -- Students and members of Kent State University College of Business Administration's Pi Sigma Epsilon (PSE) participated in a Shark Tank Competition during the spring semester.

Members were put into groups of five and each group had to come up with a product or service and present their company to the panel of 'sharks.' Each shark was given $100,000 of monopoly money to invest in the business of their choice and the winning group was awarded the most amount of money from the sharks.

The winners of the competition were Sarah Cook, sophomore fashion merchandising major; Mike Price, junior managerial marketing major; Pravali Kothakota, freshman guest admission status in University College pursuing an undergraduate non-degree; Molly Phelps, senior managerial marketing major and Trenton Maruschak, sophomore entrepreneurship major.

Tim Hrich, PSE's Vice President of Professional Development and Senior Business Management Major, coordinated this competition for the members.

"I organized PSE's Shark Tank Competition to give all members of PSE an opportunity to showcase their creative ideas for starting a business while challenging them to present the idea in a professional manner," said Hrich. "The ideas that our members developed were impressive and truly showcased the ability of PSE Kent State."

The ideas presented in the competition ranged from a drone rental company to a shower caddie with a built-in speaker and a sock company with built-in scents.

Six corporate leaders attended as the sharks, judging the ideas of the PSE members. The wide range of judges allowed for feedback in numerous areas of business. Judges included General Manager of Chase Bank, Tom Stanton; President of Clear Choice, Michelle Nelson; Great Lakes Recruiter for Penske, Melissa Wilhelm; Sales Manager at Penske, Jacob George; Owner of ECFinancial, Goran Marichand and Vice President of Operations at Sysco, Brian Cook.

PSE is a nonprofit co-ed professional fraternity that strives for the advancement of sales, marketing and management professions. Providing practical business experience through sales, sales projects, marketing research and community service projects, there are more than 50 chapters and approximately 50,000 members nationwide.

For more information about the College of Business Administration, visit http://business.kent.edu.