Four teams from Binghamton University will compete in the New York Business Plan Competition’s final round this month.

Beginning in 2010, the competition gives students a chance to build entrepreneurial skills and launch their own ventures. Teams first compete in one of 10 regional competitions across the state, with the top two in each area from six different industries advancing to a statewide final round. All winners are chosen by field experts like venture capitalists, business leaders and other entrepreneurs.

BU students Michael Bronikowski, Sarah and Adam Zarember, Justin Chong, Jason Moeller and Kai Chen were among the top students who competed in the March 21 Southern Tier regional.

The six categories for student business ventures are Food and AgTech; Health and Wellbeing; Learn, Work and Live; Products/Hardware; Safety, Power and Mobility; and Service/Software.

Last year, Bronikowski, a first-year master’s student studying computer science, founded BuzzHive, a startup that deploys artificial intelligence to optimize honey production and monitor hive health. Bronikowski, who started beekeeping at 12 years old, said his initiative’s only objective is to “decrease the rate of honey bee collapse.” He won first place in last year’s Software and Services category.

“SOM has been like my second home over the past few months even though I’m not enrolled as an SOM student,” Bronikowski wrote. “I’ve also seen this across the university where you can go and knock on a professor’s door to talk about something you’re interested in, no matter what school you’re from.”

Earlier this year, Sarah Zarember ‘24, a first-year master’s student studying business administration, partnered with her brother to create LocalLists, an app that would help people save time and money when grocery shopping. Customers can plug a shopping list into the app on their phone and “receive a full-list price comparison at stores in the area once they specify the exact products at each.” LocalLists also allows users to input their allergies and dietary restrictions to avoid certain products.

“As a first-year student here, I wasn’t sure if I had enough experience or knowledge to compete against older entrepreneurs at schools throughout the state,” wrote Adam Zarember, a freshman majoring in business administration. “However, Sarah and I have made it [to] the final round with a relatively new idea, which shows how far leveraging our skills and experiences can take us.”

Chong, a sophomore majoring in business administration, said he was “deeply concerned about the loneliness epidemic” and wanted to create an app that would “connect users with real people pursuing the same goals, provide access to authentic, experience-based advice from peers, and help track progress through collaborative efforts — not checkboxes.”

He said his app, Nudge, was meant to fill a void in today’s goal-setting apps, as many don’t focus on its social elements, making room for isolation.

In January, Moeller, a sophomore majoring in economics, started SAVOR Meals, a meal-preparation business, with Chen, a freshman majoring in accounting. They wanted to address college students’ lack of nutritional awareness while tackling food insecurity and unhealthy food consumption among young people and said their plans include partnering with local fitness centers and eventually expanding to other SUNY campuses.

“The best part of the competition has to be the critiques and questions we have received,” they wrote. “This has allowed us to continue to innovate by adjusting our ideas and methods.”

The final competition is broken down into three rounds, with the first held online this past week. The second and third rounds will take place on April 24 at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

“The most valuable lesson has to be to never use your own judgement in a business,” wrote Moeller and Chen. “You will always be self-biased. Getting other perspectives and critiques is necessary to avoid that self-bias.”

Several students said they received guidance from mentors like Chou-Yu (Joey) Tsai Ph.D. ‘15, an associate professor of entrepreneurship, and Linda Reynolds, the School of Management’s assistant dean. Chong also mentioned that he was a member of Asian American Dream and that his mentor, Nick Ho, helped him greatly. Sarah and Adam Zarember also credited their mentor, Nick Zwierlein, who works with the Koffman Institute.

Last year, first-place teams received $10,000 each, second-place winners earned $2,000 and third-place teams won $1,000. If they won, all of the students said they would invest the money toward building their brand and expanding their business.

“Passion and enthusiasm go such a long way!” Sarah Zarember wrote. “Have faith in your idea until others do too and it will be the most enjoyable experience possible.”