Calling Entepreneurs: Win Cash Prizes and Training Totalling $250,000 From a Top U.S. Business School

Calling Entepreneurs: Win Cash Prizes and Training Totalling $250,000 From a Top U.S. Business School

October 09, 2006

University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business Launches Third Annual China Business Plan Competition

    BEIJING, China, Oct. 9 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- The
University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of
Business, a leading provider of executive education
programs in China, today announced the launch of the Win in
China -- Smith Business Plan Competition, a competition
co-organized by the Smith School's Dingman Center for
Entrepreneurship and CCTV Win in China. The contest offers
China entrepreneurs the chance to compete for eight grand
prizes that include all-expense-paid trips to the United
States for business training at the Smith School's Dingman
Center for Entrepreneurship.  In addition to the training
packages, valued at $100,000, cash prizes totalling $50,000
will be awarded to the top three winners. 

    The competition is designed to compliment CCTV's
popular Win in China reality television series.
Additionally, as CCTV's exclusive academic partner for Win
in China, the Smith School will award scholarships valued
up to $100,000 to Smith's world-class executive education
programs to the winners of the Win in China television
program. 

    Contest submissions will be accepted between now and
January 1, 2007. Applicants must present a business idea
focused on the integration of business and technology and
can submit their entries via a link on Yahoo!, the
competition's official portal, at: http://www.yahoo.com.cn
or via the Smith School China Web site at:
http://www.rhsmith-umd.cn . Entrants must submit a two-page
executive summary outlining their business idea and selected
finalists will participate in a final round competition in
June 2007, where their ideas will be presented before a
panel of venture capitalists and business leaders.  

    "The Smith School has had tremendous success with
its annual China Business Plan Competition as a means of
showcasing and encouraging the development of
entrepreneurship and world-class business ideas in
China," said Howard Frank, dean of the Robert H. Smith
School of Business. "The support of CCTV and `Win in
China' enables us to exponentially increase our impact and
momentum as we go into the third year of the
competition." 

    "The spirit of `Win in China' is about offering a
chance for a life-changing opportunity to anyone with an
entrepreneurial dream," said CCTV Win in China
spokesperson, Gao Qiang. "Knowledge is empowering. We
are pleased to partner with an academic institution of the
Smith School's calibre to offer learning experiences and
opportunities that will allow winners to exponentially
increase their chances for future success."

    Globalization, entrepreneurship and the integration of
business and technology are key areas of focus for the
Smith School, which offers its leading Executive MBA
programs in Beijing and Shanghai. 

    More information about the Win in China -- Smith
Business Plan Competition can be found at the Smith School
China Web site: http://www.rhsmith-umd.cn .

    The Smith School in China

    The Smith School is partnered with the University of
International Business and Economics to deliver its
top-ranked programs in China. The school is helping China
meet a critical need for MBA graduates and world-class
business leadership by delivering its leading Executive MBA
programs in Beijing and Shanghai, as well as through its
successful custom Executive programs. For more information
about the Smith School's China programs, visit: 
http://www.rhsmith-umd.cn .

    About the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith
School of Business

    The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an
internationally recognized leader in management education
and research for the digital economy. One of 13 colleges
and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park,
the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and
part-time MBA, executive MBA, PhD, and executive education
programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate
community. The school offers its degree, custom and
certification programs in learning locations in four
continents including North America, Europe, Africa and
Asia. More information about the Robert H. Smith School of
Business can be found at http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu .

    For more information, please contact:

     Jim Curtis and Johnny Chen
     Tel:   [phone]
     Fax:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]

SOURCE  The University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School
of Business