News Summary

DAYTON — A bright idea won the 2008 University of Dayton Business Plan competition.

Salud del Sol, a business created by UD students, seeks to bring the "health of the sun" to medical treatment in developing countries, UD said in announcement.

The idea won a $10,000 first prize, the university said Thursday, April 3.

The winning team is Lauren Dokes, Lori Hanna, Daniel Hensel and Anna Young. The students created a plan to develop and market "solar cookers" and "solar-powered sterilizers," UD said, adding that the plan will set up companies in Nicaragua to make the equipment.

The solar sterilizers, also called "autoclaves," fit in solar cookers, which use reflected sunlight to cook food.

"Salud del Sol is a truly innovative entrepreneurial effort that could not only save millions of lives but could also aid thousands of poor people in developing countries," Dean McFarlin, chair of UD's management and marketing department and the NCR professor of global leadership development, said in the school's announcement.

The team also won a $1,000 first prize in the "elevator pitch" portion of the competition in November. They were mentored by David Ganzsarto, chief executive of Alternate Solutions Homecare.

Other competition winners included:

• Second place and $5,000 went to Wheelin' Water, by Brian Lastovich and James Parks. Wheelin' Water is a hydration system for large outdoor events.

• Third place and $2,500 went to DecX, by Patrick Bertke, Sean Mead, John Van Leeuwen and Mike Weaver. DecX is a modular decking system using composite materials that snap into place.

• Fourth place and $1,000 went to EZ Mileage, by David Campobenedetto, Nick Grilliot and Vince Pecoraro. EZ Mileage is a device plugged into a car to track business travel, aimed at business travelers who need to track mileage for reimbursement or tax purposes.

• Fifth place and $1,000 went to Sonne Light Sentry, an automated home lighting system. Elyse Dull, Ken Janulis, Matt Poeppelman, Ryan Smith and Jeff Teubl made up the team.

A record 59 entries competed for prizes totaling nearly $22,000, including 12 projects from outside the university community, UD said.

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