Past Winners

After growing up with dogs and building a thriving dog-training business, Keith Johnson is leveraging his first-place prize money from Rutgers Business School’s annual business plan competition to expand his entrepreneurial dreams.

“The contest showed me I was on the right track. It boosted my confidence as a businessman,” said Johnson, a 2023 graduate of the Rutgers Executive MBA program. He is the founder and owner of Johnson’s Dog Training Academy, which serves all dogs but has a special focus on training aggressive-breed canines that some businesses shun.

Rutgers part-time MBA student Juan Salinas won the top prize of $20,000 in the annual business plan competition for a startup company that makes P-nuff Crunch healthy snacks.

Salinas started West Orange-based Perfect Life Nutrition in 2015 after working in the food divisions of several of the largest consumer packaged goods companies. The company's main product is a baked peanut puff snack that is sold largely in independent health food stores.

Behind lots of new businesses is a problem that needs fixing. When Anton Kogan realized how difficult it was to send packages to jail prisoners – not only is it time-consuming, but deliveries are denied for a myriad of reasons, including the way a box is sealed – he set out to provide a service that would make it easier and more effective for friends and relatives to ship care packages. 

"I thought there had to be a better way,” Kogan said.

Emma’s Premium Foods was born, offering food as well as apparel, books and other goods that can be shipped to prisoners in New York State Corrections and Community Supervision facilities. Customers can order a range of products by telephone or online and arrange for Emma’s to handle delivery. The company caters to inmates as well as relatives and friends who may be shopping for them.

Jon Roberts, a Rutgers MBA student, and partner Stephanie Charles won first place in the 2016 business plan competition at Rutgers Business School. Their company, Charles Roberts LLC, launched the dri-sound headphone cover. It's the first of a line of innovative market solutions that the company will create to help spawn sustainable businesses. The partners won $20,000 as the first-place winners.

Abby Taylor, Robert Giuliani and Desi Saran, The Partners behind Playa Bowls.

Brian Bergen, who won first place in the Rutgers 2014 Business Plan Competition, is the founder and owner of Bergen Botanicals, an indoor landscaping company.

Ross Goldstein and Cesar Cheng, winners of the 2013 Rutgers Business School Business Plan Competition, used part of their $20,000 prize money to place this billboard near the Garden state parkway which helped increase web traffic and registrations by 300%.

Heart Juice, winner of the 2012 Rutgers Business School Business Plan Competition (from left to right): Tanay Makim, Finance (RU '12), Ray Li, CEO (RU '11), and John Vitug, President.

Tashni-Ann Dubroy (RBS MBA ’11)and Tiffani Bailey Lash, co-founders of Tea and Honey Blends, a hair care company, impressed judges with business plan ready to take off.

2010: StratiMed – Sunay Shah (RBS MBA ’10)

The Intersect Fund grew out of a desire to bring the campus to the community. When Rohan Mathew (left) and Joe Shure (RIGHT) were editors at The Daily Targum — Rutgers University’s student-run newspaper — they saw two sides of New Brunswick, N.J. Read More.