UIC MBA Chicago Entrepreneur Blog Past, present, and future plans in the life of an entrepreneur and former Chicago UIC MBA student.

Here’s some updates on the MBA program at UIC from the dean Stefanie Lenway:

The following are a sampling of some of the CBA’s outstanding achievements from the past few months.

• Entrepreneur magazine and The Princeton Review named our graduate entrepreneurship program sixth in the nation.

• Crain’s Chicago Business ranked the Liautaud MBA program fourth on its annual list of the area’s AACSB-accredited MBA programs.

• Liautaud MBA alumna Caralynn Nowinski-Chenoweth, the co-founder and acting CEO of Sanogene Therapeutics Inc., was named to the 2008 Crain’s Chicago Business “40 under 40” list, which is an annual snapshot “of the area’s up-and-comers from a wide range of industries.” In addition to this honor, Sanogene obtained the exclusive license to the worldwide patent for its core technology, received a strategic equity investment from Cato BioVentures, and entered into a partnership with Cato Research Ltd.

• Alter EatGo, founded by Eric Meredith ‘94, won the 2008 City Treasurer’s Business Plan Competition. This is the second consecutive year a business founded by a CBA alumnus took first place in the competition. (Sanogene Therapeutics won in 2007).

• The Crain’s Chicago Business list of Who’s Who in the Chicago business community featured several CBA alumni.

• The College of Business Administration received an “Above and Beyond” award from Junior Achievement in recognition of its efforts to assist the organization in providing important economic educational programs to young people in grades K-12. Last year, CBA student volunteers reached more than 8,600 students throughout the Chicagoland area, which represented a 277 percent increase in JA volunteer support from the previous year’s commitment.

It’s nice to see that the many people in the program are doing more than just classwork.  I’d like to get involved with more organizations, community services, and competitions in the new year.

Posted under UIC MBA Liautaud

Lately, I’ve been doing some research on the world water crisis. Did you know that almost 6000 people die EVERY DAY from drinking contaminated water? Most of these being children. This just blows my mind! That’s over 2 million people a year (mostly children) that will never get to grow up, get a job, have children, drive a car, enjoy life…

As I started to do some research, there were two very interesting products that I found that would help this situation tremendously. Both are low-cost, simple, and can potentially help millions of people.

Device #1 - WaterCone - Changing saltwater to freshwater

I’m so surprised that a solution could be so simple. Here’s how it works.

Turning saltwater into Freshwater

You pour saltwater into a pan. You place the WaterCone over the pan with the cap closed. Place it out into the sun and let the sun heat up the water. Once it starts evaporating, the condensation will drip back down but the cone side is shaped like a “U” and traps the water in. In 24 hours, you get fresh water to drink! Here are some more detailed pictures:

Pour salt water into the pan

Place the cone on top of pan and place in the sun

Water is trapped in the cone and ready to drink in 24 hours!

Absolutely simple and amazing! Once released, it’s suppose to be around $25.

Device #2 LifeStraw - the ability to drink contaminated water

LifeStraw personal is a device that basically works as a straw with filters that allows you to drink contaminated water safely. LifeStraw Personal kills 99.9999% of waterborne bacteria and 98.5% of viruses.

Sip through the straw to drink clean water

This device cost about $3 to make and is in production already. It purifies 700 Liters of water which is enough for one person for one year. The filters in the straw remove viruses, bacteria, and make the water taste better!

LifeStraw Family is a larger version of the LifeStraw and allows should be able to provide drinking water to a whole family for 2-3 years.

LifeStraw for the whole family!

Take a look at this youtube link in which CEO of LifeStraw drinks water mixed with cow crap. Amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycEnu9p1GPE

Conclusion:

It’s nice to see that simple devices are being created and distributed that will help the world water crisis. I’d like to research these products more and find out how I can get more involved.

Posted under Water Crisis