On Wednesday, April 15, Seattle Pacific University’s 20th annual Social Venture Plan Competition took place in Upper Gwinn, which was packed with students pitching their businesses to roughly 70 volunteer judges.

The Social Venture Plan Competition starts in the autumn quarter, where students get feedback for their business from various mentors in the field. Lillian Hamilton Ulrich, an applied human biology and honors junior at Seattle Pacific, talked about the support she and several other competitors’ felt during this part of the competition.

“I know quite a few people who are working through social venture plan, and they get feedback in almost every step by people who genuinely care,” said Ulrich.

Director of The Burton and Ralene Walls Center for Applied Learning Mark Oppeniander, , who runs the Social Venture Plan Competition, explained what makes this competition unique to Seattle Pacific.

“There are business plan competitions at a lot of universities and schools, but we focus on social enterprises, meaning that we are looking for projects that are both profitable and they make some sort of social energy, so the students have to pitch both,” Oppeniander said.

The winner of the competition was ReForged Connections, which was created by business administration majors David Rodriguez, a junior, senior Malia Ana Silva, senior Samira Biembongo, apparel design and merchandising junior Jessica Blackburn, junior psychology major Shailey Makahanaloa Valoroso and junior applied human biology and honors major Lillian Hamilton Ulrich.

Silva shared what the team’s expectations were going into the competition.

“I was hoping we would get something. I was not expecting that we would get the top,” said Silva.

Ryan Dinham, a senior business administration major, explained how his experience started out as daunting and shifted over time.

“It was scary at first, but then once you get into it, it’s really not that bad. It’s actually quite fun,” said Dinham.

Though she initially viewed the SVPC as a hurdle, Samira Biembongo, a fourth year business administration student, explained that she enjoyed the work despite the competition being mandatory for all business administration majors.

“Even though at first it was a requirement, after doing it and actually enjoying our project, I would do it again,” said Biembongo.

To learn more about the various projects that were presented this year, visit the Social Venture Plan Competition website for more details.