An invention to deter robbers in poor countries and a system to alert consumers to potential savings with their credit cards won top prizes in the "Big Idea" competition finals April 16.

The competition, part of Entrepreneurship
@Cornell's Celebration 2010, awarded a first prize of $2,500 to undergraduate students in two tracks -- business enterprise and social enterprise.

"Cashlert," the brainchild of seniors Star Li, Jeff Chen and Nelson Yan, would notify consumers when their credit card offers special deals with certain retailers. For instance, when a consumer visits the J. Crew website, the Cashlert system would trigger a pop-up window showing that their Mastercard offers a 5 percent discount. The same alerts would be available at retail checkouts, so consumers could choose which credit card to use based on the special offers available.

"Cashlert would allow you to save money without changing how you spend," Li said. "No one can possibly remember all of the discounts available on each credit card, so our system remembers them for you."

Senior Lauren McHugh's "Bright Pink" idea would allow women who are part of mobile banking systems in developing countries to purchase bright pink purses for a small amount. Since the system uses mobile transactions rather than cash, the purses would alert would-be criminals that these women aren't carrying cash.

"This would eliminate the incentive for crime," said McHugh, who thought of her social enterprise idea after spending a semester studying in South African and witnessing the high robbery rate there.

First runner-up in the business enterprise track, receiving a prize of $1,000, was Lingo Buddies, a line of stuffed animals that would help children learn languages. Second runner-up, earning $500, was Food Wipes, an all-natural wipe that could be used to disinfect food before eating.

First runner-up in the social enterprise track, receiving a prize of $1,000, went to the Solar Fire Project, which is developing solar cooking devices to be used in developing countries, and second runner-up, with a $500 prize, went to Kono, a website that would provide homework and test preparation games for high school and college students, while partnering with corporations to donate to educational programs in developing countries.

"One of the goals of the universitywide entrepreneurship program is to support students in seeing themselves as the sole proprietors of their careers," said John Jaquette, executive director of Entrepreneurship@Cornell. "Participating at any level in the 'Big Idea' contest is one way to experience this. Obviously, the finalists get an additional benefit by having to present their ideas to a crowd of 200 people."

The "Big Idea" competition is managed and sponsored by Entrepreneurship@Cornell. Will Brassel, MBA '10, led the effort this year and acted as master of ceremonies for the finals. Prizes for the business enterprise part of the competition were provided by the Vijay Vashee MEN '75 and Sita Vashee Promising Entrepreneur Award Endowment Fund.

Other highlights of Celebration 2010 included a dinner and keynote address honoring Lubna Olayan '77 as Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year 2010, numerous symposiums related to entrepreneurship across the disciplines and an expo featuring local and student businesses and other resources for entrepreneurs.

Kathy Hovis is a writer/editor for Entrepreneurship@Cornell.