A University of Arkansas at Little Rock team won $25,000 at the 16th annual Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup Collegiate Business Plan Competition.

The team took first place in the undergraduate division for its business plan on Drone Surveying Solutions. The awards were presented April 19 at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.

Winning team members include Robert Aikman, who graduated with a degree in economics in December 2015, Corey Castleberry, a senior majoring in finance, Victoria Freshour, who graduated with degrees in economics and finance in December 2015, and Mario Montengro, who graduated with a degree in finance in December 2015.

Using an unmanned drone, Drone Surveying Solutions’ business concept helps farmers detect early problems in crops, decreasing crop loss, expenses, and negative environmental effects.

“We are trying to detect any areas that might be bad for the crops and try to protect the farmers from losing their crops so they can make more money,” Montengro said.

Monengro said he and his teammates could not have won without the support of the UALR College of Business.

“The professors and the dean in the College of Business are second to none,” he said. “It is important for us to make a statement for UALR.”

A member of each of the 12 finalist teams in the graduate and undergraduate divisions participated in the AT&T Elevator Pitch Competition.

Aikman, who served as the team’s CEO, won first place in the undergraduate elevator pitch competition, earning an additional $2,000.

Since 2001, the Arkansas Economic Acceleration Foundation (AEAF), a 501(c)(3) affiliate of Arkansas Capital, has challenged students to develop ideas for new or better products or services, testing to see if the concepts could be profitable by putting them through a rigorous and real-world entrepreneurial process.

“The Governor’s Cup program is ultimately an academic competition, teaching Arkansas’s collegians to think like entrepreneurs,” said Rush Deacon, CEO of Arkansas Capital. “What is amazing in watching the evolution of the program since its start in 2001 is how the plans entered now are dominated by actual development-stage enterprises, with the real potential for commercial deployment.”

Drone Surveying Solutions will be moving on to compete with the first- and second-place winners of Reynolds Governor’s Cup competitions in Nevada and Oklahoma for top honors in the ninth annual Donald W. Reynolds Tri-State Collegiate Business Plan Competition. The event will be held May 25-26 in Las Vegas with a total cash prize pool of $118,000.

In the upper right photo, pictured from left to right are Faculty Advisor Stuart McLendon, College of Business Dean Jane Wayland, Robert Aikman, Corey Castleberry, Mario Montenegro, and Victoria Freshour.