Academics Business

University of Miami School of Business Receives Major Gift to Support Entrepreneurship

The Finker-Frenkel Legacy Foundation gift will establish the Business Plan Competition Endowed Fund.
Finker-Frenkel, School of Business, Entrepreneurship
UM President Julio Frenk, Eugene Frenkel, director of the Finker-Frenkel Family Foundation, UM School of Business Administration Dean John Quelch.

The University of Miami School of Business Administration today announced a major gift to support its annual Business Plan Competition. The gift, from the Finker-Frenkel Legacy Foundation, will establish the Business Plan Competition Endowed Fund to help finance the competition, which is now in its 16th year. Open to all University of Miami students and recent alumni, the competition awards nearly $50,000 in prize money to help budding entrepreneurs get their ventures off the ground.

The gift was announced during a dedication ceremony for the Finker-Frenkel Family Promenade, an outdoor meeting and study space named in honor of an additional gift from the foundation. The ceremony was attended by family members who established the Finker-Frenkel Legacy Foundation, University of Miami President Julio Frenk, School of Business Dean John Quelch and other dignitaries, along with business school students, faculty and staff.

“This generous gift will enable the business school to build upon our efforts to support and nurture new venture creations and innovation, which play such an important role in our community,” said Dean Quelch. “We are extremely grateful to the Finker-Frenkel Family Foundation, whose gift will make a significant difference in the lives of our student and alumni entrepreneurs every year.”

“The Finker-Frenkel Family Foundation places a great emphasis on supporting education initiatives,” said Eugene Frenkel, director of the Finker-Frenkel Family Foundation. “We look forward to a long term relationship with the University of Miami.”

Past winners in the Business Plan Competition have gone on to build their ventures into businesses that have garnered national attention. They include such companies as College Hunks Hauling Junk and My Therapy Journal.com, both of which have been featured on ABC Television's “Shark Tank.”

The first qualifying round of the 2018 competition will take place November 15 when students and alumni who submitted winning concept papers will pitch their ideas to a panel of judges during the 'Cane Idea Challenge. The final round in the completion will be held on April 11, 2018.