By Jayme Mendenhall

Does the non-refundable policy of the airlines make you hesitate when scheduling a trip? Have you ever scheduled a flight and then needed to cancel it? What if there was a company where you could connect with other people who would buy your ticket off you if you needed to cancel? -And the airlines would be ok with that! That is exactly what Christopher Boll is proposing in the small business plan he entered for CREED’s Business Plan Contest. Christopher plans to “link consumers with common travel plans by a secondary market to resell unused or unneeded airline tickets”.  This is an idea whose time has definitely come!  Christopher’s company, KeNeXt Market, would be the first of its kind in the business world and if he can pull this off, it will change the face of airline travel for the better!

Christopher is a graduating senior at the University of Michigan majoring in political science. He is planning on taking a job in Florida after graduation as well as attending law school and getting his MBA. He is a member of the men’s rowing team there at the U of M and he is also involved in charity work. He participates in the “Relay for Life” as well as being a part of “Well Done”- an organization who helps provide clean drinking water for communities in Africa.

CREED would like to congratulate Christopher Boll as the winner of the Business Plan Contest! We wish him the best of luck in his future contributions to the business world!

Wendell Brock - Saturday, February 05, 2011
/ĭn-vĕst’ing/- The act of committing money to a business while expecting income or profit in return.
/out-vĕst’ing/- The act of committing money to a business while expecting to getnothing in return, other than the satisfaction of giving a leg up to American entrepreneurs.

CREED is launching a business plan contest, which is funded by the masses to help kick-start a few small businesses.  Crowd-funding initiatives have been run successfully around the world, where efforts were funded by many small donations, raised via word-of-mouth and grassroots marketing. Both were intended to jumpstart a few businesses and put some fire back into the small business segment. CREED wants to extend this energy and excitement for small businesses.

Here's the quick overview of the contest:

Part I: Starting February 1st

• Entry Fee: $50 donation
  
• Each contestant who submits a one-page business plan will receive one vote with their $50 entry fee; After the entry fee is paid, additional votes are $10 each (votes increase your chances of winning and will also help fund CREED's mission) Encourage friends and family to become voters by sending this to everyone you know, for each $10 donation they may have one vote or they may outvest a $100 donation and have 12 votes.  (The more people who enter the contest and/or buy votes the larger the pot of winnings will be for contestants.)
• Part II: February 1st - March 15th
• Write a very concise business plan/proposal on one page – see The One-Page Proposal Book as a guide.
• Submit the one-page proposal via our secure web portal under the CREED-BPlan.org tab
• Part III: March 15th - March 31st
• Cast your vote(s) to select the best plan. There will be two rounds of voting - first round will select the top ten business plans, the second round will select the top three business plans.
• Winnings will be divided between the top three business plans with the most votes. In the following manner
• Fist Place 50% of the capital raised
• Second Place 35% of the capital raised
• Third place 15% of the capital raised You may participate as a donor, or as a contestant and donor. The competition rules are published on the registration page. Anyone over 18 years old can participate by purchasing votes. Contestants must be enrolled in a college or university.
• Sign up now? Click here. Remember, your donation allows you to vote on who should win the start-up capital. If you've got a great idea and you can write a compelling business proposal, you could be the winner of CREED's business plan contest! Register today and start writing your plan. Business plans must be submitted by March 15th 2011. After that date, the voting will start!