UCF College of Business Students Win Small Business Institute® National Honors in Florida SBDC at UCF Program
Student Team Assist Local Small Businesses with Award Winning Consulting
May 12, 2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Hal Thayer, Communications Director, FSBDC at UCF, 407.420.4850 or hthayer@ucf.edu
Orlando, FL – In a sweep of its competition entries, the University of Central Florida’s College of Business recently won two (2) 1st Place prizes in the 2024-25 Small Business Institute’s® (SBI®) annual Experiential Learning Project of the Year Competition, with two separate UCF CBA student teams taking the top honors in the ‘Graduate Specialized’ and ‘Graduate Feasibility/Business Plan’ categories.
In addition to receiving their awards at the SBI® national conference this month, the students will be recognized and honored at the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF)’s National Small Business Week luncheon and awards ceremony honoring local Small Business Administration award winners in May.
Competing against MBA teams from across the country, the UCF student team of Matias Falckenheiner, Alexander Meleis, Victor Robinson III, all in the MBA program, and Tiama Washington of the Accounting MSA program, won in the ‘Graduate Specialized’ category on the strength of their consulting project for BWH Plant Co, an Apopka-based tropical houseplant company operating both online and brick-and-mortar storefronts. The second winning UCF student team of Branden Fernandez, Connor Murphy, Leomar Vasquez and Daniel Velez, all in the MBA program, won in the ‘Graduate Feasibility/Business Plan’ category on the merit of their consulting engagement for Sanford-based McCarthy Fabrication, a contract manufacturing, miscellaneous metals, and structural steel fabrications business.
This is the 20th and 21st time that UCF student teams have won an award since 2009 when UCF and sponsor Florida Small Business Development Center at UCF first participated in the SBI® national competition. SBI® is the premier provider of professional development for experiential student team consulting and entrepreneurship education, research, and activities.
Led by faculty advisor and Department of Management Adjunct Lecturer Dr. Carl Blencke, the Small Business Institute® is featured as a graduate level class in the UCF College of Business’s Department of Management: ENT 6946 – Small Business Consulting. The Florida SBDC at UCF manages the program by recruiting its clients, evaluating the students’ skills, and then matching them to the clients’ needs. The student team is then guided through the process by an FSBDC consultant acting as the Case Supervisor.
“This national recognition is a testament to UCF’s bold commitment to empowering students with real-world experiences that prepare them for their future careers and drive meaningful impact for our community,” said Mike Kilbride, Executive Chief of Staff, who oversees FSBDC at UCF. “These awards highlight the power of combining student talent, faculty mentorship, and industry partnerships, and they recognize UCF’s role in driving innovation, collaboration, and economic growth across our state.”
“What exciting accomplishments by our UCF College of business students!” said Rebecca Bennett, PhD., Professor and Chair of the Department of Management at UCF. “Our congratulations go out to each and every one of them. The SBI® program as part of our course offering is an important educational partnership between UCF and the FSBDC and a valuable experiential learning platform that contributes to the quality of the student educational opportunity at UCF.”
In the winning project for BWH Plant Co., the UCF team offered recommendations to enhance the company’s greenhouse inventory management processes and to optimize its warehouse space to help streamline and ensure accuracy and efficiency. The team from UCF’s first place project for McCarthy Fabrication delivered a comprehensive market feasibility study that ultimately provided a clear recommendation on whether the company should pursue expansion by introducing canopy fabrication.
— FSBDC —
About the Small Business Institute® Program in Central Florida
The Florida SBDC at UCF (FSBDC at UCF) sponsors the Small Business Institute® in Central Florida and, in conjunction with the Department of Management at the UCF College of Business Administration, manages the SBI® program locally. It recruits and evaluates FSBDC clients for the program, lends FSBDC consultants as SBI® case supervisors, and provides a range of guidance and support.
At the UCF College of Business Administration (UCF CBA), SBI® is a graduate‐level elective course. Students enrolled in the class provide management consulting services to local small businesses. Each student team has direct contact with the client and produces a professional case report. The report is the ultimate product of the program and is tailored to each business. Case study reports have included market research, marketing plans, competitive analysis, advertising strategy, customer surveys, strategic plans, financial analysis, human resource best practices, and business plans.
The SBI® Program is offered as a full-semester credit course through the CBA’s Department of Management. During the semester, the student teams complete extensive research and analysis to determine industry best practices; meet regularly to understand company processes and procedures; and perform wide-ranging analysis of business and industry strategies and performance. As a result of their efforts, the students are able to provide a comprehensive final report and set of recommendations.
SBI® is a nation‐wide program that provides high‐quality business assistance to companies in need while providing an extraordinary opportunity for university students to learn through field case studies. Each project is led and conducted by a group of students under the supervision of a case supervisor and faculty member. The experience is often cited by students as being one of the most rewarding of their academic careers. In today’s collegiate environment there is a strong emphasis on experiential learning, and the SBI® has been at the forefront of this movement for over thirty years.
About the FSBDC at UCF
Hosted by the University of Central Florida (UCF), and with its main office in the National Entrepreneur Center located at the Fashion Square Mall in Orlando, the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF) is part of part of UCF’s Office of the President and the Florida SBDC Network.
The Florida SBDC at UCF provides aspiring and existing small businesses with no-cost consulting, low-cost training, and access to business data and research resources. In addition to its core service offering, the Florida SBDC at UCF also offers specialized services to qualifying companies, including capital access, market growth, government contracting, international trade, business continuation, cybersecurity, disaster planning and recovery, and more. The FSBDC at UCF serves an eight-county area that includes Brevard, Flagler, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Sumter, and Volusia counties and maintains 9 service centers across Central Florida.
In 2023, the FSBDC at UCF served more than 2,800 entrepreneurs in Central Florida with consulting services, resulting in more than 10,100 jobs created, retained or saved; $743.5 million in sales growth; $59.2 million in capital formation; $122.5 million in government contract awards; and 164 new businesses started. For more information, please visit www.sbdcorlando.com.
About the Florida SBDC Network
For more than 45 years, the Florida SBDC Network, the state’s principal provider of business assistance [Fl. Stat. 288.001], has nourished a statewide partnership between higher education and economic development to provide existing and emerging small and medium-sized business owners with management and knowledge resources that enable overall growth, increased profitability, and economic prosperity for Florida’s economy.
In 2023, the Florida SBDC Network delivered 111,720 hours of consulting to 14,808 small business clients – resulting in business owners securing $346 million in capital, $576 million in government contracting, impacting 19,263 jobs, increasing sales by over $3.9 billion, and creating 1,058 businesses.
With over 40 offices statewide, the Florida SBDC is funded in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration, Department of Defense, State of Florida and other private and public partners. The Florida SBDC Network, headquartered at the University of West Florida, is nationally accredited by the Association of SBDCs and is a recipient of the President’s E Award for Export Service. Florida SBDC services are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. Language assistance services are available for individuals with limited English proficiency. For more information, please visit www.FloridaSBDC.org.
FSBDC at UCF | 3201 E. Colonial Drive | Orlando, FL 32801 | p 407.420.4850 | f 407.420.4862
sbdc@ucf.edu | www.sbdcorlando.com