JAIMS Students Win Business Plan Competition

June 7, 2006

Printer friendly version

First prize in the University of Hawaii annual business plan competition went to a team of JAIMS students for their plan to develop and market a high-efficiency, low-cost water filtration system that removes arsenic and other toxic heavy metals from municipal drinking water systems.

Harmoni Elliott (JEMBA), Jason Moran (CHEMBA), and John Varlaro (JEMBA) joined with Liangjie Dong of local startup company MicroNose Technology to create a plan for the company that not only won the $25,000 prize, but is attracting world-wide attention for the product.

This was not a typical theoretical college project. Dong, a molecular biosciences and bioengineering (MBBE) doctoral student in the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, had created the technology, but he needed people with business savvy to help him turn it into a viable business operation. A chance meeting with the JAIMS students led to their partnership in developing the business plan.

Since winning the competition, Harmoni, Jason, and John have been featured in newspaper and magazine articles, have made presentations for business groups and governmental agencies, and have appeared in television news programs.

Arsenic and other heavy metal pollutants are found in some mainland U.S. states and many third world countries. Due in part to the publicity generated from winning the contest, MicroNose is now preparing for explosive growth.

For these young JAIMS students, the future is unlimited. They will complete their MBAs in November, and then decide whether to take permanent positions with MicroNose, helping to guide it on its way to becoming a global company.

To see a Windows Media Audio/Video news clip on the product, click here. (Video will start when "buffering" reaches 100%.)

More information may be found at the MicroNose website: http://www.micronose.com/