PSU Students Place First and Second in SBI Program

The Small Business Institute is a national program that is present in many small colleges across the country. It is for graduate students going for their masters degree or undergraduate students with a GPA of 3.5 or above. Most students involved in this program are already working professionally and have a good business sense. The business majors get together in groups of two to five students to select a small business in New Hampshire, or whatever state the college is in. The students then sign a contract to do work for the business for six to nine months. The work consists of market research study, financial reporting, or purposed business plans. The students earn three to six credits for their work. Craig Zamzow, Plymouth University’s small business advisor, explained that the program’s purpose is to “provide students with a service learning experience to apply what they learn to a real business.” The groups work is recorded in a report that is handed to the small business advisor at the end of the contract. The reports are handed in at the end of the contract where they are judged by a panel of people from the administration. This is the local competition, and then the reports go to regional where they are judged again and the best ones move onto the nationals to be compared against small business reports from colleges across the nation. In the past six years Plymouth business students have taken first or second in the two categories: specialized and comprehensive report. The best small business institute report is decided at the annual conference held in the second week in February (the location varies every year). This year Plymouth took first in the specialized report and second in the comprehensive. Ben Wallace, Lisa Hix, Susanne Olson, and Jay Hauser compiled the specialized report for Dancing Roots from the Keene area. The comprehensive report was collected by Peter Wallis and Roger Wolf for Patricia’s Specially for You in Meredith. Plymouth University also took home the prestigious Small Business Institute showcase award for 2003 which is given to the best small business institute in the country. Zamzow stated: “It’s the highlight of their MBA experience and the culmination of all the work they done.”