Written by Maci Killman

CougarTank, a new competition featuring cash prizes for both the participants and spectators, is making a name for itself this semester. Organized by the Concordia Enterprise Group, a student led business club, CougarTank is similar to the TV show Shark Tank, in that it  encourages students to create a business idea to present in front of a set of judges for three rounds. The rounds start out short, and by the third and final round, it turns into an in-depth presentation of their business ideas. With two rounds already done, only one is left.

The first round consisted of 11 student participants that presented in a whiteboard competition to a group of judges made up of faculty from Concordia University Chicago. Judges were picked by the Dean for the College of Business, Dr. Claudia Santin, to ensure fairness amongst the students, said Jorge Palacios, President of Concordia Enterprise Group.

“The way it works was that CEG essentially prepares the whole event. However, we don’t get involved with the actual competition part. That means, we don’t get involved with judging criteria or picking the judges or anything,” said Yishen Cai, Vice President of Concordia Enterprise Group.

Round two for CougarTank that was judged by alumni, happened the week before Easter break and had a lot more members in the audience. Palacios, described the experience of round two as “awesome” because of how many students who came to listen and participate. “We had more students. I wasn’t expecting as many people to go,” said Palacios.

Palacios described a key way to get these college students to attend, and it involved prize money of $25 and free food. At each of these rounds, students cast a vote on which CougarTank participant will move onto the next round. By choosing one of the teams moving forward an audience member could be selected for one of two $25 prizes in each round.

How did these Concordia Enterprise Group members obtain prize money to hand out to students? Members David Sowinski, Yize Li, Yishen Cai, Jorge Palacios, Esme Torres, and Professor Basadur approached representatives from Northwestern Mutual to pitch their plan about Cougar Tank and why they could use the money for the event. Cai said it was a “team effort.” Palacios also described Wealth Management Advisor Tom Canale’s reaction, to the pitch on Cougar Tank as “amazing.”

“Tom Canale was really just trying to help the students here,” said Cai.

After hearing Concordia Enterprise Group make their pitch, Northwestern Mutual gave $1,000 cash, to help and sponsor the prizes for the event. In addition to the Northwestern Mutual sponsorship of the CougarTank event, Concordia Enterprise Group received an additional $2,000 from Student Government Association.

Concordia University Chicago has never had a system for handing out prize money. Since Concordia Enterprise Group wanted to hand out prize money to the participants and audience members, a system had to be created to accommodate.

“There are so many things that have to be revolutionized and changed because of the establishment of this event,” said Cai.

If you haven’t been to round one or round two of CougarTank yet, there is still time to attend the last and final round. The final round of contestants competing are Emmanuel Ndifor presenting RIV Monitoring, Emily Johnson and Jason Slusher presenting Mi Wash, and Malachi Allgood presenting Own.

“They will be presenting their entrepreneurial ideas in front of “local entrepreneurs” such as Tom Canale, Wealth Management Advisor with Northwestern Mutual in Rosemont, an event sponsor,” said Palacios. CougarTank finalist will emulate a Shark Tank style presentation in hopes of winning a cash prize of $500. Second place will receive $250, and third place will receive $100.

Come out to watch the final round of CougarTank and meet the final contestants, judges, and the Concordia Enterprise Group members behind the event on Thursday, April 19th, 2018 at 5:30 PM in KZ 120. Audience members can win prize money of $25 for participating and guessing the correct final winner, and dinner will be provided for the audience. Show up on time and stay until the end to find out who wins. Learn more about CougarTank at CUChicago.edu/CougarTank

Jorge Palacios, Yishen Cai, and the rest of Concordia Enterprise Group members want to give a special thanks to Northwestern Mutual in Rosemont and the Student Government Association, Professor Tim Basadur, Cathy Schlie, Claudia Santin, Marge Johnsson, Alexandra Hendrickson, and the rest of the College of Business for the support with Concordia Enterprise Group and CougarTank.

(Left to right) Professor Basadur, David Sowinski, Yize Li, Yisen Cai, Jorge Palacios, and Esme Torres.