Palouse entrants win cash prizes in WSU business plan competition

Three Palouse entrants won thousands of dollars at the WSU Business Plan Competition Friday, April 22. The annual business competition is hosted by the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies in the WSU College of Business. Prizes are awarded in four categories; undergraduate, graduate, high school and open leagues.

First place winner in the open competition was Joe Fondahn of Palouse for his business idea of starting a liquor distillery in Palouse. Fondahn was awarded $6,000 to help jump-start Palouse Spirits, a distillery which will brew hard liquor from local grains.

Second place prize in the contest’s open competition went to Mike and Mindy Hicks of Palouse for their Noah’s Ark Foods plan. The Hicks were awarded $5,000 to pursue their idea.

The Hicks, who run a concrete business in Palouse, are designing a line of organic and gluten free snack foods. They had already launched their snack business when someone told them about the WSU competition. Mindy said they re-hashed their business plan and entered.

Judges listened to five final candidates April 22 and awarded prizes to the top three entries. Entries in the open competition are restricted to Whitman County residents.

Mindy Hicks said they were delighted to have the extra boost of $5,000 to launch their business.

“We are in the middle of transforming our garage into a bakery,” she said. Their first product will be organic apple rings, and they hope to have the first snack bags on the shelf in June.

Third place in the open division went to a team out of Pullman for a business plan for a paintball company.

In the high school division, Kristin Nelson of Palouse High School tied for second place and received $1,200 which she plans to use for college.

There were 10 final candidates in the high school competition and six were awarded prizes.

The Whitman County branch of Southeast Washington Economic Development Association (SWEDA) partially sponsors the open competition and the high school competition.

Bronzestone Hummus, a company that now sells hummus around the Palouse, won the first place prize in the open competition two years ago. Dick Watters, managing director of SEWEDA for Whitman County, said the company was awarded $10,000 to start and has been doing very well since.