NIBS WORLDWIDE BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION RULES AND
GUIDELINES
Amended May 2014
The main objective of the NIBS Worldwide Business Plan Competition is to stimulate
entrepreneurship amongst students. Students have to select/invent a service or a
product (that doesn’t exist yet) and write a business plan. With this plan they have
to convince potential investors.
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Students will ...
Learn how to create and write a business model / business plan
Learn how to present a business plan for a national jury / international jury
in English
Learn how to perform desk research / market research / feasibility study
Get team experience
Develop communicational and organizational skills
The following rules and guidelines for the Network of International Business Schools
(NIBS) Worldwide Business Plan Competition, hereafter referred to as the Competition,
have been designed to ensure fairness to all participating teams. The organizers and
judges of the Competition will strictly enforce the competition rules. Interpretation of the
competition rules that may arise during the Competition will be reviewed and decided by
the organizers. Their decision will be final.
1. GENERAL INFORMATION
The Competition is open to any student registered, for the duration of the competition, in
an undergraduate (bachelor level or equivalent) – business program (commerce,
administration, management, etc.) at any member institution of the Network of
International Business Schools or through special invitation made by the host institution
and the NIBS Board.
1.2 Team Composition
One team in the qualifying round may represent each member institution. This team is
composed of min. three and max. five eligible students, and one time only participants.
Four team members is considered as ideal.
1.3 Advisor
An advisor from each member institution shall be nominated to serve as liaison with the
NIBS organization. This advisor is often the coach of the team.
1.4 Registration Fee
Each member institution wishing to enter a team for the NIBS Worldwide Business Plan
Competition qualifying round is required to pay a registration fee of €150,-
Deadline: November 24th, 2014
Payment of the fee has to be made according the instructions on the registration form of
the NIBS organization and has be sent to lieve.hauben@khleuven.be
Invitation and registration form incl. payment instructions will be sent out by NIBS (i.e.
Lieve Hauben) in September 2014
1.5 Qualifying for the Championship Round
Every institution that wishes to participate in the competition, selects its own team of
three to five students. There are no general rules for this national selection at the
member institution. However, often universities organize their own “internal” business
plan competition; the winning team is the team that represents the university in the
NIBS Worldwide Business Plan Competition.
Every member institution will be responsible for its own jury in the national and “internal”
selection. It is highly recommended to select as jury members not only university faculty
members, but also people from the academic community.
Per institution one business plan + link to a 5-minutes movie about the product/service
have to be sent to lieve.hauben@khleuven.be
Deadline for submission: March 1st 2015
A NIBS-jury of min. three and max. five members will examine all business plans and
movies which are submitted before the deadline, and determine which three teams will
proceed to the championship round. These three finalists have to be announced before
April 1st 2015.
1.6 Team Changes
Any changes in team composition between the end of the qualifying round (March 1st)
and the championship round must have prior approval of the NIBS board. Substitution is
only allowed if there are very exceptional circumstances and force majeure. These need
to be explained in a written statement to the NIBS board which has to be signed by the
dean of the participating university. No more than one team member can be replaced.
1.7 Hosting the Championship
The host is that institution where the NIBS Annual Conference takes place (different
place every year). It is the responsibility of this institution to provide at least two jury
members (one from the academic and one from the business community), to take care of
all technical support needed for the presentations and questions & answers, and all other
practical things related to the organization of the championship round. Furthermore, it is
the joint responsibility of the hosting institution and the NIBS board to reserve a time
slot of 2,5 hours in the NIBS conference program. The timetable of the final of the NIBS
Worldwide Business Plan Competition has to be clearly mentioned in the conference
programme and discussed with the 3 teams in this final.
Note:
The host has to do his utmost to make sure, all video conference, skype or facetime
facilities are working. These facilities have to be tested at least one week before the start
of the final round and preferably again 2 or 3 days before the start of the final.
This includes tests of sound and video of product and presentation movies, and at least
one “live” rehearsel with all three student teams in the final.
The host has to inform the teams about the training timetable and all technical
equipment and requirements needed, both at home and host university (e.g. skype
connections and instructions how to enter the Adobe room, internet links etc.)
A mobile or landline telephone with speaker has to be available at all times.
Note:
All 3 teams should do their utmost to make sure the quality of the movies (product and
presentation movies) is excellent. Video and sound have to be tested in big a classroom
or audience hall.
Note:
Concerning the time slot the host and the NIBS board have to take into consideration
that the finalists might be in different zones.
1.8 Language
All business plans, movies and presentations must be in English.
2. QUALIFYING ROUND: RULES AND GUIDELINES
2.1 Important Dates
November 24th, 2014 Deadline to enter a team
Institutions that wish to enter the qualifying round must have completed and returned
the registration form and submitted the registration fee.
Email: lieve.hauben@khleuven.be
March 1st, 2015 - a complete business plan + link to a 5-minutes movie about the
product/service must be sent by email to lieve.hauben@khleuven.be
NIBS (i.e. Lieve Hauben) will send all plans and movies to all judges.
April 1st, 2015 - finalists announced by NIBS (i.e. Vera and Lieve):school names and
individual team member names.
NIBS (i.e. Lieve Hauben) will only announce which teams are in the final round, and
which teams are not in the final round. No specific ranking (nr. 1, nr. 2, nr. 3, nr. 4 etc.)
will be announced.
Note
Teams competing in the finals have to deliver their contact information to NIBS straight
after they have been chosen to compete in the finals: students’ and coaches’ email
addresses. NIBS (i.e. Lieve Hauben) will pass this information to the host. The host can
start informing the teams about technical facilities, see also under 1.7
2.2 Business Plan
The business plan must be submitted as a Microsoft Word file. It should be doublespaced and typed; no handwritten material of any sort will be accepted. A margin of 1
inch (2.54 cm) should surround the text. Font must be Calibri 11 pt.
The business plan must have attached a title page, which includes the name of the
institution and the names of the team members. The name of the institution and names
of the team members cannot appear anywhere else in the business plan (e.g. refrain
from including any identifying information in headers and footers).
Max. number of words is 5.000 (five thousand), excluding appendices and title page This
limit will be strictly enforced. Any team exceeding the limit will be summarily disqualified.
The report may also include a maximum of 5 (five) pages of appendices. Appendices
should always refer to the text in the business plan. The purpose of the appendices is
providing support for the assertions and conclusions expressed in the business plan itself.
This content is separate from the main text and will not count toward the word limit.
Appendices should be numbered, titled, and appropriately referenced within the body of
the business plan. Although teams may use this space as they see fit, appendices in
business plans commonly include elements such as:
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·
·
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Financial statements
Diagrams / illustrations
Itemization / categorization of key information
Implementation timeline
As in all business writing, appendices should be succinct, well laid out, and professionally
presented. Teams are strongly encouraged to avoid the temptation to cram excessive
content into these pages or employ overly small type. In addition, appendices should not
be viewed as an opportunity to circumvent the length restriction on the main body of the
business plan; any effort to do so will be poorly received by the judges.
2.3 Movie
The business plan has to be supported by a movie. This movie must be no longer than
five (5) minutes. It has to be made by the team which has written the business plan and
all team members have to appear in the movie. In this movie they demonstrate the
product or service in the business plan.
The movie has to be made in a format, quality and size that matches with and can be
downloaded from YouTube; in high quality.
2.4 Judging
Each business plan will be assigned an identification number after its title page is
removed. The judges will evaluate all business plans independently. Scoring on a scale
from 1 (extremely bad) to 50 (excellent). All judges will send their scores by email to
lieve.hauben@khleuven.be and j.b.van.oudheusden@hr.nl
Then the judges’ scores will be added, divided by the number of particpants, and the
teams ranked. NIBS (organizers and board) determines - based on the judges’ scores –
which teams will proceed to the final round; this decision cannot be discussed.,
Evaluation criteria
Business model with value proposition
Business strategy
Business objectives
Internal and external analysis
Marketing plan, incl. communication plan
Financial plan
Implementation plan
Contingency plan
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Creativity
Viability and feasibilty
The top three teams will be invited to compete in the championship round.
2.5 Judges Selection
The judges will be selected from the business community (if possible) and members of
NIBS.
The formation of the judging panels is the joint responsibility of the host institution
(conference host) and the NIBS board.
Host institution:
It is essential that all efforts will be made to have two judges. Where possible, one
should have current or recent business experience. The host institution will be
encouraged in this regard.
NIBS:
The NIBS board will ask and select min. one and max. three judges within the Network of
International Business Schools (NIBS) or closely related to NIBS.
NOTE
A team advisor and/or coach of one of the participating teams can never be selected as a
judge.
2.6
Judges Briefing
It is extremely important that judges must have a good understanding of their role, i.e.
they have to act as potential investors and in this way determine whether they would or
would not invest in the presented product/service.
Before March 1st every judge will receive an evaluation and feedback form to assist him
or her in the evaluation of the business plans.
NOTE
The guidelines for the judges and the judges’ evaluation forms will be distributed to the
participating team coaches as well.
2.7 Feedback
The judges’ evaluation forms of every team will be sent to the team advisor. It is very
important that all teams will get proper feedback (on weak and strong elements),
especially those teams which were not able to qualify.
 Feedback must clearly match the score, i.e a bad score has to be accompanied by
several suggestions for improvement, and a good score has to be based on
several strong points;
 Judges must take into consideration that not all teams have English as their
mother tongue.
2.7.1
Every judge has to formulate two questions about aspects in every submitted business
plan which need further clarification and explanation. If a team is selected for the final,
the answers to these questions will be part of the final score. See under 3.2
3.
THE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND: RULES AND GUIDELINES
Based on the qualifying round, three teams will be invited to compete in the
championship round. The championship round will be held at the South-East Missouri
State University on Wednesday 20 May 2015.
NOTE
If a team cancels its participation in the finals of the competition the business plan finals
will be played by only two teams. However, if a team cancels within a reasonable time
frame, then the first team on the list of those who did not qualify for the final round of
the business plan competition (number four), will be asked to participate. If this team
does not want to participate, the NIBS board may ask the next team from those who
participated in the qualifying round (number five), etc.
3.1
Presentations and important dates
Each selected team prepares a PowerPoint presentation in which the business plan is
clarified and explained. All team members have to participate and have to be visible in
this presentation. If a team uses graphics, figures, key words etc. on the slides, it is the
responsibily of each team to make sure that the audience during the final can see and
read this information on a big projection screen; therefore, it is not advisable to put
much information in small print on one slide. High quality format is essential.

The presentation may last max. ten (10) minutes.

The max. number of slides is twenty (20).
NOTE
It may well be the case that a team brings its business plan into practise and launches a
start-up company in the course of March, April and May, i.e. after handing in the
business plan (deadline is 1 March). This often depends on the time that a team can
spend on the project. For some students, participation in the NIBS Worldwide Business
Plan Competition is extra-curricular, for others it is an essential part of their study.
It is very important that the presentation is based on the facts, assumptions and
expectations as presented in the business plan. It is the original business plan that
potential investors needs to convince; this is for the jury the decisive argument in the
final assessment.
The presentation must be recorded and the link on YouTube has to be sent to
lieve.hauben@khleuven.be and j.b.van.oudheusden@hr.nl
Deadline: 1st May 2015
The separate slides (max. 20) have to be sent to
lieve.hauben@khleuven.be
NIBS (i.e. Lieve Hauben) send all presentations, presentations movies and product
movies to the host. The host can start testing, see also under 1.7
Deadline: 1st May 2015
Furthermore, the recorded presentation AND the movie about the product/service have
to be put on a usb-stick and given to the representative of the university who will visit
the NIBS conference.
During the final, on Wednesday May 20th 2015, the taped presentations will be shown
to the jury and the NIBS conference audience, no sooner.
Number 3 in the qualifying round goes first, number 2 goes second, number 1 goes last.
The organizers will provide the judges with the slides of every presentation before the
beginning of the final. NOT with the presentation movie itself.
NOTE
The organizers reserve the right to use the presentations and movies after the
competition.
3.2
Presentations, questions & answers and important dates
BEFORE the presentation
Each team selected for the championship round, has to answer the questions raised by
the judges in the qualifying round; see under 2.7.1. These answers have to be sent to
j.b.van.oudheusden@hr.nl and lieve.hauben@khleuven.be
Deadline: 1st May 2015
Format for answers:

A margin of at least 2.54 cm (1 inch) must surround the text.

Font: Calibri 11.
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Max. number of words per answer: 150

Submitted in Microsoft Word
The organizers will provide the judges with the answers before the beginning of the final,
so they can read the answers beforehand. Only if a judge is dissatisfied with the answers
he or she will ask for further explanation during the Questions & Answers.
SCHEDULE
On Wednesday May 20th 2015 the scheduling per team will be:
 05 minutes movie with product, TAPED
 10 minutes movie with presentation, all team members participate, TAPED
 10 minutes Questions & Answers, all team members participate, LIVE*
 15 minutes jury deliberation time + spare time
*AFTER the presentation
On Wednesday May 20th 2015 the NIBS organizers will contact every team right after
the presentation through video conference, skype or facetime facilities or (if needed)
mobile / landline telephone with speaker.
The jury will ask questions during max. 10 minutes. One of the organizers will indicate
whether there is 5, 3 and 1 minute left (time sheets).
The Questions & Answers are meant for questions which arise in response to the
presentation.
3.3
Judges Selection
The judges in the championship round are the same as in the qualifying round, i.e. two
judges provided by the conference host and one to three judges from the other NIBS
members. If one of the judges is not able to come to the final no other judge will be
added.
The organizers will ask one of the jury members to act as jury president during the final.
3.4
Scoring
The results in the championship round are based on
a. points for the business plan in the qualifying round, given by
the individual judges (50%)
b. points for the answers to the questions and for the
presentation, given by the individual judges (20%)
c. points for the presentation and Q&A, given by the NIBS
conference audience (30%)
Every judge will receive an evaluation form to assist him or her in the evaluation and
scoring of the presentation and the answers, on a scale from 1 (extremely bad) to 20
(excellent).
NOTE
It may well be the case that a team brings its business plan into practise and launches a
start-up company in the course of March, April and May, i.e. after handing in the
business plan (deadline is 1 March). However, it is very important that the presentation
is based on the facts, assumptions and expectations as presented in the original business
plan. The feasibilty of this business plan is key in the Presentation and Questions &
Answers. If a team founded a start-up company after the submission of the business plan
(1 March) and gained relevant new insights from these recent experiences, the team is
allowed to share those experiences with the jury during the Q&A.
All NIBS conference attendees will receive voting papers after the last presentation. On
this paper voters have to write a score between 1 (extremely bad) and 30 (excellent) for
each finalist.
NOTE: Representatives of the schools/teams participating in the final are NOT allowed to
vote.
The organizers and NIBS board will gather and add all results and determine – together
with all jury members – the winner.
3.5
Judges Feedback
Directly after the final the president of the jury will call numbers three and two in the
scoring and give them oral feedback in such a way that the teams actually understand
the reasons why the winner was judged to have been superior to them.
Then the winner will be called and a video connection will be established. The president
of the jury will congratulate the team members ‘live’ and give them the trophy
symbolically.
3.6
Trophy and certificates
The president of the jury hands over the trophy and the certificates to one of the school
representatives present at the NIBS conference.
The host of the final (i.e. the host of the NIBS conference) will provide a NIBS Worldwide
Business Plan Trophy for the winner.
The host of the final (i.e. the host of the NIBS conference) will provide NIBS Worldwide
Business Plan-certificates for every individual team member participating in the
championship round; the certificates have to be signed by the president of the jury and
the NIBS organizers.
NOTICE
These rules have been established to ensure the utmost fairness in the NIBS Worldwide
Business Plan Competition. The organizers retain the right to disqualify any team from
the competition if the above rules are not observed or if a team does not maintain a
proper standard of conduct in the professional and collegial spirit of the competition. Any
concerns or disputes regarding the implementation of these rules and/or any
improper or disloyal behaviour must be brought to the immediate attention of
the organizers. However, please note that the decision of the organizers is final, and
not subject to review.
NIBS board, May 2014
Copyright University College of Leuven
Copyright Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences