LCU ENACTUS focuses on entrepreneurship and sustainability in their local community as well as globally, and one of the most striking examples is through Chap Tank, an annual event that promotes young entrepreneurs to local business leaders. The fourth Chap Tank was coordinated by the marketing and public relations manager for ENACTUS, Michaela Nunnally, a junior business management major. The event had a lot of moving parts that Nunnally had to oversee: application, review, venue, judges, etc. This year, the judges were:

• Ceri Hendrickson (‘08), who was previously employed as the controller for AquaSmart Enterprises, though she is now working diligently as a stay-at-home mom,
• Todd Knowlton, an entrepreneur, speaker, consultant, author, and mentor, who serves as the president and co-founder of Smooth Fusion, a digital strategy and web development firm,
• Rex Tippy, a managing partner of Red Beard Capital LLC, who was employed by Mack Energy Corporation before beginning his consulting practice, and
• Jake Mahan (‘10), the vice president loan officer at Peoples Bank.

“Chap Tank brings community and business leaders on campus to meet our students, which helps them make connections,” Nunnally explained. “It’s also good for the students because their ideas are heard.” For the first round, students were asked to submit general applications, which were reviewed by ENACTUS officers and sponsors for creativity, originality, and feasibility. When going through applications, Nunnally was impressed by the creativity of submissions and existing entrepreneurship on campus. Due to the high quality of applications, no applicants were cut until the second round, which required a financial proposal. Applicants filled out a spreadsheet with monetary information for their business. Based on which applicants did their research and handed in accurate financial plans, the pool was narrowed down to five finalists. The five finalists were required to do a mock-trial to polish their presentations, clean up their financial research before the event, and meet with a mentor in the School of Business: Tracy Mack, Kathy Crockett, Rose Johnson, Clyde Neff, Brian Starr. All of the applicants’ hard work culminated at the Chap Tank event on April 4. The winners received monetary prizes.

1st place – Zachary Link, LIPA Cardholders

2nd place – Gabriel Gonzales, Triple Threat Restaurant

3rd place – Hunter Ates, iPhone Customization and Repair

Additional Participants:

• Cedric Omergie, SP Controller Patent
• Anselm Bradley, TryWare