By Arden Nguyen
Juniors Natalie Papazian and Ivy Phan, of Virtual Enterprise’s Human Resources department, are one of eight teams that qualify as semi-finalists in a national virtual enterprise competition.
Papazian and Phan promote Ecocentric, a company that Virtual Enterprise developed last year, as part of the VE Social Venture Challenge looking for a company that will have a positive social or environmental impact. Ecocentric offers kits containing sustainable and biodegradable utensils for everyday life.
The first round of the competition required that they submit a 60-second video detailing their company. In the second round, they will record another video providing more detail about their business pitch. If Papazian and Phan advance as one of three finalists, they will have the opportunity to present their idea to a group of investors and business professionals in New York City in April.
To prepare for the competition, Papazian said “We have done a lot of research. We had to look at old files, old products, we had to learn all the new products, and we had to understand the marketing techniques and all that kind of stuff that we didn’t know at first.”
The first-place winners receive $10,000 to invest in their idea, while the second and third place winners are each awarded a laptop.
With the $10,000, the team plans to invest in Virtual Enterprise’s current business, InTents Concierge.
