On November 3, four teams of LIM students participated in the school's Venture-SIFE competition. The students, who are enrolled in the Management department's Strategic Management classes, all devised plans to help local businesses grow and become more successful.

Venture is an LIM-wide competition connected to a larger international contest conducted by Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE). SIFE is a nonprofit organization that gives students the tools to learn the free enterprise system in a real working situation. SIFE challenges students on more than 800 college campuses nationwide to take what they're learning in the classroom and use their knowledge to better their communities.

The two winning teams were: Evolution, which consisted of Johnny Pinto, Jessica Wuerthner, Christina Trause, Kristen Presnal, Ashley Stewart, Angie Yang, Arlene Santiago, Christina O'Neil, Loredana Simeone, Tabitha McCadden, Monika Zakrzewski and Allison Pangilinan and Sweet Success, which consisted of Andrianna Gerolimatos, Megan Bacher, Jorge Barcia, Maxine De Jesus, Stephanie Guzman, Jenna Kehoe, Lindsay Lagermeier, Dawn Lauterman, Patricia McGreevy and Daniella Maietta.

The Evolution team's project was to help Colombo's Pharmacy of Middle Village, Queens increase sales and customer traffic and become better-known in their local community. Colombo's is a small, family-owned business. The LIM students advised the pharmacy's proprietor, Vito Colombo, on marketing, public relations, merchandising, and organization of inventory.

The students' ideas included the creation information sheets about the flu for distribution at local schools and senior centers. They also used the visual merchandising skills they acquired at LIM to revamp the signs and window displays, and improve the look and feel of the entire store.

Sweet Success consulted for Anna's Homemade Chocolates, a mother-daughter venture on Staten Island which makes custom chocolate products for special events and promotional use. Sweet Success presented plans for increasing sales volume and expanding the client base by promoting the business through a website, creating a mailing list, advertising, and placing flyers in strategic community locations.

Says LIM management professor Diane Martin, "As members of a Venture-SIFE team these students faced challenges and learned from experiences that you simply can't find in a classroom. They developed teamwork, leadership, and communication skills far beyond those of most college students. Our students are preparing for the real world by facing real world challenges."

The Venture competition was judged by Desiree Blake and Lugang Luan from the John Hancock Financial Network, and Gail Rothwell, a merchandising consultant and alumna of LIM. These local business executives donated their time to listen to the students' presentations and offer suggestions for improvement.

LIM students will now have the opportunity to compete against students from other colleges and universities at the SIFE regional competition in April. A national competition follows for regional winners, and if LIM is named the SIFE USA National Champion, they will represent the country at the SIFE World Cup in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
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