News and Events

2009 Business Plan Competition Winners

Organic Alchemy Composting

Winners Brett Richardson and Greg Williams with Richard Bilodeau,
Dr. Valarie Lamont and School of Business Dean Jim Shaffer

Organic Alchemy Composting (OAC) will collect organic waste from
restaraunts, supermarkets, hotels, and others; and sell compost to
gardiners, landscapers, and farmers. Greater Portland is an ideal
service area, representing Maine's largest solid waste market.
Competition in Portland is minimal for an organic waste collection
and composting start-up.

OAC will use efficient trucking routes to service a diversity of commercial
food waste generators; compost the waste at its facility using proven and
cost-effective processes; and grow in a controlled fashion with input from
its expert Advisory Board.

Entrepreneurship Week

Sandra Stone of Maine Center for Enterprise Development, Governor John Baldacci and Valarie Lamont of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the signing of Entrepreneurship Week Maine proclamation. February 23- March 1st, 2008 was Entrepreneurship Week.

Business Management Certification Graduation

The Certificate in Business Management, a partnership of the School of Business,
the Center for Continuing Education and the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce,
graduates its first class on April 13, 2007.

Gordon Platt Honored

Gordon Platt, Instructor for FastTrac for Veterans, was honored for his work at the SBA Dinner.
He received the SBA 2006 Veteran Small Business Champion Award May 24 in Bangor.

Picture: Back l -r = Lorraine Wark, Chair, Maine Small Business Advisory Council, Valerie Lamont, USM School of Business, Steve Adams, SBA New England Regional Advocate, Mary McAleney, Maine SBA District Director
Front = Charles Summers, SBA New England Regional Administrator & Gordon Platt, Maine Small Business Development Center at Southern Maine Regional Planning Commission photo credit - John Gardner, Maine SBA

Student Business Plan Competition Wins Project Management Award

Richard Bilodeau, Program Manager for the Student Business Plan Competition, received the Project of the Year award from the Project Management Institute at their meeting June 8.

Dr. Valarie Lamont was featured in an issue of FastTrac Connections in an article titled "Lighting the Entrepreneurial Spark Across Rural Maine."