VALDOSTA – The winners of the Guardian Bank Business Plan Competition were announced Saturday during the Entrepreneur Extravaganza held at the James H. Rainwater Conference Center.
Partners Megan Smith and Anne Barnas were chosen as winners of the event, which is in its second year. Both are professionals in human resources, and their new company, SmithBarnas & Associates, Inc. will serve small and medium sized businesses in the community by providing professional human resource consulting and outsourcing support and services.
Nearly 40 participants entered the competition eight months ago to vie for $10,000 in startup capital donated by the Guardian Bank, and several community partners joined together to offer additional incentives and support with $40,000 of in-kind services and prizes.
Participants were challenged to create a business to address the professional needs of local students who obtain technical diplomas or college degrees.
“Over the last couple of years, research has shown that the employee wages in Lowndes have gone down since 1996. We really want that to change. This competition is one way that we hope to do it, by helping businesses develop, that in turn create higher paying jobs for college and vocational grads who we consider a vital part of this community,” said Tim Carroll, chairman of the Valdosta–Lowndes Chamber of Commerce.
The idea for the competition was first presented by Valdosta State University Marketing Instructor Lara Bruhn. She was exposed to the program while attending college at the University of Harvard.
“There probably isn’t a community in America that couldn’t benefit from small business development. This competition is practiced at university campuses around the nation and I really believed that it could be helpful here as a way to promote small business growth,” Bruhn said.
Parrish Clark, vice president of Guardian Bank, presented Smith and Barnas with a congratulatory check and believes their business will aid many.
“We’re proud of all the finalists here today. Each of them had a good plan, but the ladies of SmithBarnas & Associates had the best plan. For a small mom-and-pop business, human resources is a time-consuming thing. Through their services, these business owners can free up time to focus on what they are really successful doing,” Parrish said.
Guardian representatives say the bank will continue to support the event and has plans to offer an additional $5,000 second place prize next year.
In the past week, during the final stretch of the competition, the remaining five finalists worked on their proposals and presented their ideas to a selection committee Thursday for final evaluation.
“The most challenging part of the competition was trying to get the business plan just right. You could probably say that we had the cart before the horse initially, but patience and perseverance brought everything together for us,” said Smith.
Barnas and Smith have known their trade and each other for quite some time, having worked together prior for another human resources company.
“There are nearly 900 small businesses registered in Lowndes. Many of these businesses aren’t likely to have a human resources staff. We want to help these business owners ensure that they’re meeting government compliance and that tax filing, payroll and benefits are taken care of properly, among other things that business owners don’t really think about when they begin,” Smith and Barnas shared.
Already the winners’ schedules are filling up as Barnas could be seen shortly after the announcement in a crowd of chamber representatives, marking days in her calendar. The partners said that they are looking to get to work as early as Monday.
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Smith, Barnas win business contest
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