Governor’s Giant Vision Business and Student Competition Winners Announced

Sioux Falls, SD - As host of the Governor’s Giant Vision Business Awards Program, South Dakota Chamber of Commerce & Industry President David Owen announced the top winner of the 2013 business competition and student business idea competitions during the GOED Conference banquet in Sioux Falls.

After a preliminary competition that reduced the field of applicants to 12 qualifying business and 12 qualifying student entries, the competition concluded with day-long judging activities Tuesday, April 16 at the Ramkota in Sioux Falls.  The awards were presented as part of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) banquet with Governor Dennis Daugaard presenting the top prizes in both competitions.  The following were selected as the 2013 Governor’s Giant Vision winners.

BUSINESS COMPETITION:

The first place $20,000 winner was CalxAqua, Mat Peabody, Rapid City

CalxAqua, LLC, Mat Peabody, Rapid City
CalxAqua is commercializing proprietary technology for coating limestone with iron to enhance its capability of absorbing arsenic and heavy metals.  We will partner with Pete Lien & Sons, a leading company in the limestone and aggregate business to build a stand-alone company selling our proprietary material to municipalities and water treatment operations to enable their compliance with federal regulations limiting arsenic concentrations to a maximum level of 10 ppb.  Later, we will expand to offer point-of-use systems for home/commercial use and eventually systems for remediation of mine tailings and fracking fluids.

Second ($5,000):  Prairie Aqua Tech, Mary Beth Fishback, Brookings
Third ($4,000):   Tranzderm Solutions, Sue Lancaster, Brookings
Fourth ($3,000):  Prairie Wind Garden Fixtures, Randy Schall, Sioux Falls
Fifth ($2,000):   Dakota Earth, Daniel Avery, Alcester

The remaining qualifiers received $500 each to help with the expenses of participation.  Their business descriptions appear below the Student Competition information.

Sponsors of the Giant Vision business program are Governor Dennis Daugaard; Black Hills Power and Black Hills Corp., Rapid City; Christiansen Land & Cattle Ltd., Kimball; Dacotah Bank, Aberdeen; Daktronics, Inc., Brookings; South Dakota EPSCoR, Brookings; Toshiba America, Mitchell; US Bank, Sioux Falls, Aberdeen and Rapid City; Wheeler Manufacturing, Lemmon, and Xcel Energy, Sioux Falls. 

“The goal of this program is to encourage people to explore being a business owner and to create an exciting future while also expanding South Dakota’s economy.  We have worked hard to produce an event that will benefit all of the businesses participating.  While the prize money will help the finalists, the contacts and rigor required to be a qualifier will prepare each entrepreneur to advance their business idea” said David Owen, President, South Dakota Chamber of Commerce and Industry. 

2013 marked the sixth year of a college student competition. Entries were received from across South Dakota.  From the original applications, the top twelve were selected to compete April 16.  The winner of the student competition was:

STUDENT COMPETITION:

The Student Competition ended with a tie for first place.  The first and second place prize money was pooled and divided equally.  The two $4,250 winners were:
Alexander Thomason, Braced With Style, Sioux Falls, Washington High School and Aaron Zaug & Melisa Rudd, SkinBait, Brookings, South Dakota State University

Braced With Style, Alexander Thomason, Sioux Falls, Washington High School
Braced With Style manufactures and distributes affordably priced, customized, stylish fabric covers to enhance the look of scoliosis braces.  Scoliosis is a side-to-side curvature of the spine combined with rotation of the vertebrae. Many scoliosis patients are required to wear braces for corrective action and pain relief.  Since braces are visually bland, unattractive and unappealing to wearers, these brace covers will help boost morale of scoliosis patients who are outfitted with these white, hard plastic contraptions.  No such product currently exists and Braced With Style will meet this unmet need, especially for teenage girls, the primary wearer of scoliosis braces.

SkinBait, Aaron Zaug & Melisa Rudd, Brookings, South Dakota State University
SkinBait was founded in 2010 by Aaron D. Zaug, an Entrepreneur from Brookings, SD.  SkinBait is a growing developer of state of the art fishing lures located in Brookings. The proprietary design and function of this lure will change the fishing industry, and give SkinBait a competitive advantage in the market.  Our future plans include developing lures in the ice fishing and jig lines, as well as adding fishing poles, tackle boxes, and apparel to our product line.

Third ($2,500):  Hay Camp Brewing Company, Sam Papendick and Karl Koth, SD School of Mines & Technology, Rapid City
Fourth ($2,000):  Order IT, Samuel Konstant & Nathan Souvignier, University of South Dakota, Sioux Falls

The remaining qualifiers will receive $500 each to help with the expenses of participation.

Governor Dennis Daugaard supported this program financially, along with Citibank N.A. of Sioux Falls, Ken Stork, President and CEO as the corporate sponsor.

The Governor’s Giant Vision Business Awards and Governor’s Giant Vision Student Awards were established to help citizens realize that South Dakota is the very best place to start a successful business.   The program was designed as an opportunity for entrepreneurs to compete for seed money and a chance to achieve their dream. 

This South Dakota Chamber of Commerce & Industry program is chaired by Brad Wheeler, President of Wheeler Manufacturing in Lemmon.  Wheeler commented “We are fortunate to have successful entrepreneurs take time to be judges and really work hard to examine all of these new ideas.  This is an exciting day with high energy people working hard to share in the American dream.”

The Governor’s Giant Vision Business Competition is a program of the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce and Industry and is an annual event held in April.

www.southdakotagiantvision.com
www.sdchamber.biz