The winners of this year’s Marketplace Summit have been announced. The Marketplace Summit is an annual event hosted by Asbury University’s Dayton School of Business in conjunction with Asbury Seminary’s Office of Faith, Work and Economics. This year’s conference took place on Nov. 14 and 15.
Asbury junior Andrew Coomes won the grand prize and audience choice award for his business plan for OPUS.
In the undergraduate category, junior Madison Lewis placed first for Adornare Collective and was followed by a team of seniors: Tyler Thompson, Benjamin Black, Luke Phillips and Jonah Shepherd of CrossRoad Studio. The winners of the graduate category were Parker Touchton of Haiti Artisan Co-Op in first, then in second Nick Porritt, Keegan Penalva and Micah Penalva of Penalva After School Program.
According to the event’s website, it is “a conference open to the community that unites students, pastors, business and community leaders to discuss faith, work, and economics in the marketplace and how social entrepreneurship carries out Kingdom-minded initiatives using the business approach.”
“It started as a partnership six years ago to educate and encourage students to turn their work into an extraordinary calling,” said Cindy Dean, marketing and MBA director.
A major part of the conference is the Student Business Plan Competition. Students introduce a business plan they created, that should either solve a social problem, make a profit or inspire innovative transformation. Students in the competition have the opportunity to be mentored by faculty and staff. Then they present their pitch to a panel of judges in front of a live audience.
The winners of the competition are awarded funding to help them launch their plan.
“This was another great year for the project that brings the Asbury University and Seminary campuses together,” said Dean of the School of Business Dr. Mike Kane. “The Summit proves that the marketplace provides a place for ministry and creativity.”
Along with the Student Business Plan Competition, the Marketplace Summit includes a variety of sessions that discuss faith in the marketplace. This year’s sessions included two meetings of Lunch and Learn, one with Asbury President Dr. Kevin Brown and one with Emily Moon Kolega, founder of By Grace Foundation, along with a chapel message by Kolega.
The Marketplace Summit is an annual event in November, and students and community members with a business proposal are encouraged to attend and enter the competition next year.
