26 May Let’s Go Fishing! New Berlin Student Wins Annual ‘Wisconsin Yes!’ Youth Contest with LED Bait Plan
Pranil Panda
Pranil Panda, a 9th grade student at Eisenhower Middle/High School in New Berlin, is the first-place winner in Wisconsin YES!, a statewide youth business plan contest for students in middle and high school.
Pranil’s company, All Weather Glowing Fish Bait, is an artificial bait that can be used for multiple species of fish in any weather, water depth or condition. The core product is a lure with adjustable light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, that can be set to catch different types of fish known to be attracted to light in different colors and hues. His business plan discussed the bait itself, likely competition and market conditions.
A recorded presentation of Pranil’s business plan will be shared virtually at the June 3 Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference preceding the awards ceremony for the Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest.
“What’s more Wisconsin than fishing? Pranil’s plan may have a natural, homegrown market,” said Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council, which produces the contest.
Students submitted their ideas in a 250-word online summary to compete in Phase 1 of the contest. Professionals from across the state served as judges, provided feedback and scored the ideas. Twelve entries were selected to move on to Phase 2, where they submitted 1,000-word executive summaries covering company overview; product or service description; customer definition; market description, size and sales strategy; competition; management team; financials; and capital needs.