Kwasi Agyemang
  • History Museum Studies
  • Class of 2016
  • Brooklyn, NY

Kwasi Agyemang Wins 2nd Place in Regional Business Plan Competition

2015 Apr 21

SUNY Oneonta graduate student Kwasi Agyemang of Brooklyn, NY, will represent the Mohawk Valley in the state finals of the sixth annual New York Business Plan Competition (NYBPC) on Friday, April 24, in Albany.

Agyemang, a student in SUNY Oneonta's Cooperstown Graduate Program in History Museum Studies, took second place at the regional level in the Informational Technology/Software category for his company, Travelsee. Travelsee is an app that helps users find and share cultural experiences at museums and cultural attractions based on GPS location and keywords. However, unlike other location-based apps, Travelsee uses cultural experiences as a social hub for real-time visitor engagement.

Dr. Brian Alexander, CGP visiting professor and director of the Institute for Cultural Entrepreneurship, accompanied Agyemang to the Mohawk Valley Regional Qualifier held at the SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Utica on April 10. The top teams from qualifiers held in each of New York's 10 Regional Economic Development Council zones advanced to the final round of the statewide competition, where they will go head-to-head for the grand prize -- $50,000 cash and $50,000 in in-kind services. Each team will have 10 minutes to pitch their idea and five minutes to answer questions from an external panel of investor judges.

The NYBPC is the only leading collegiate business competition that is a regionally coordinated, collaborative statewide program representing more than 75 colleges and universities. Since 2010, more than 1,130 student teams have pitched their ideas and ventures at the NYBPC. The winners are selected each year by esteemed judges, including venture capitalists, angel investors, investment bankers, other sophisticated public and private investors, and seasoned entrepreneurs. At the end of the 2014 competition, more than $1.3 million in cash and in-kind prizes had been awarded to student entrepreneurs.