May 3, 2005

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On July 16, 2004, JAIMS hosted an awards ceremony for the 2003-2004 JAIMS congratulated two groups of MBA students on Wednesday, April 27 for their strong showing in the 2005 UH Business Plan Competition held the day prior.

These students are currently enrolled in the Japan-focused MBA (JEMBA) and China-focused MBA (CHEMBA) programs, cooperative programs between JAIMS and the University of Hawaii College of Business. The final round of competition featured seven teams narrowed from a field of 60.

Of the seven teams, Mixed Plate -- the management team with the business plan to create a full-service hotel near the University of Hawaii -- held the distinction of being the only team among the seven finalists that was comprised entirely of students.

In addition, Mixed Plate was the only team to compete in both of the competition's featured categories - the Social Enterprise Category and the General Category. The Mixed Plate team members were Kala Ahloy (JEMBA), Trenton Fairbanks (CHEMBA), Kevalin Rianarchriya (CHEMBA), Laura Samartin (JEMBA), and Datong Wang (CHEMBA).

"What began as a class assignment four months ago grew into something beyond our expectations," said Ahloy, who presented the business plan on behalf of the team. "We must have put in over 40 hours alone this past weekend preparing for the competition. We are grateful for and touched by everyone's support."

Mixed Plate proposed to develop the University Hotel at Manoa -- a research and development center for hospitality management in walking distance from the University of Hawaii at Manoa campus, which would meet the need for accommodations near the campus and help to revitalize the surrounding community.

The second business plan team, Language Documentation Project (LDP), whose members included Philip Lee (JEMBA), Philippe Nivelle (JEMBA) and Valerie Guerin (UH Linguistics student), made it to the semi-final round and received the award in the Small Business Category along with another team. The LDP team received a $250 cash award.

LDP team's business plan proposed to develop the LDP into the leading language documentation center in the Asia Pacific region that would train students from countries with endangered languages on how to document their languages and to apply for grants to expand their projects. Project organizers displayed their work for the community at the Bishop Museum.

"It is impressive how Hawai'i has developed its culture and language," said Lee, who successfully secured local media coverage on his team's plan. "I believe as we have more intercultural exchanges, we will learn and enrich each other's cultures. We will even help other in preserving their culture."

"We are so proud of the accomplishments of Mixed Plate and the Language Documentation Project, especially since they were competing against other teams representing organizations already in business," said Blair M.T. Odo, vice president for Academic Affairs. "The participants represented JAIMS with a high degree of excellence and professionalism throughout the entire process."