Pepperdine Business Plan Competition Awards $26,000 to MBA Teams

LOS ANGELES, March 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Pepperdine University's
Graziadio School of Business and Management awarded $15,000 in seed funding to
a MBA business plan addressing California's nursing shortage. Pepperdine MBA
students Kimberly Foster and Mara Kamins' Nurse Education Web, a web-based
clinical practice reservation system for nursing schools, won first place in
the Pepperdine University Fourth Annual Business Plan Competition
(http://bschool.pepperdine.edu/students/bplan/), held Saturday, March 8, 2008
in Malibu, CA.

Foster, herself a registered nurse and teacher at a Los Angeles-based nursing
school, and Kamins, an experienced entrepreneur and investment banker,
proposed an online solution enabling hospitals, clinics and nursing homes to
find and book nursing students, who are required to complete 750 hours of
on-the-job training to earn their degrees. Using Nurse Education Web's
automated scheduling and matching capabilities, nursing schools would not have
to contact each individual clinical site for information and available student
slots. The improved efficiency would save schools time and money and expand
the number of nurses available to enter the workforce.

Second place was awarded to Marumi Marblez, a business plan to recreate
"family game night." The Pepperdine MBA team members Zach Pond, Dan Reines,
Emalie Brgoch and Vanessa Towning received $5,000 for an original board game
that can be played in as little as 10 minutes and left "ready to play" in
common areas to encourage family members and friends to conveniently engage
with one another at any time.

Finalists LA.Blender.com, a business plan offering real-time online coupons
and promotions from area businesses, and White Coast Solutions, specializing
in outsourcing private medical practice administration, were each awarded
$2,500.

In addition, MBA students independently awarded $1,000 in prize money to
undergraduate students Luke Marvel and Brett Clouser, recipients of the
Socially-Minded Entrepreneur Award for their Monument of our Hearts business
plan, which married their own brand of organic designer clothing with
promoting a healthy body image.

The competition, open to all students attending Pepperdine University,
received more than 40 business plan proposals in November 2007. Ten plans were
selected to compete in a semi-final round, which produced the four finalists.

Teams presented before a panel of business professionals that included Jim
Marshall, managing director of Selby Ventures (http://www.selbyventures.com/);
Mark Miller, managing member of Miller Family Holdings LLC
(http://www.manta.com/coms2/dnbcompany_dk43qr); Don Oparah, founder and
director of Venture Acceleration Initiative (http://www.vai.ucsb.edu/); and
John Rehfeld, chairman of the Forum for Corporate Directors
(http://www.fcdoc.org/).

The first-place and second-place winning teams are invited to compete for
$250,000 in investment funding at the 4th Annual Draper Fisher Jurvetson
Business Plan Competition (http://www.dfj.com/venturechallenge/index.html), a
state-wide contest available to competitors at any college or university in
California that currently has a business plan competition. The two Pepperdine
MBA runner-up teams also have a possible opportunity to compete as "wild
cards" in this event in Menlo Park, CA, on May 28, 2008.

About the Graziadio School:
Founded on the core values of integrity, stewardship, courage, and compassion,
Pepperdine University's Graziadio School of Business and Management has been
developing values-centered leaders for contemporary business practice since
1969. Our portfolio of fully accredited MBA and bachelor's completion business
programs provide personalized attention in an intimate setting, emphasis on
applied and relevant business practices, and the convenience of six campus
locations throughout Southern California. With an alumni network of more than
30,000 business professionals, the Graziadio School delivers superior
flexibility, quality of experience and depth of knowledge for professionals
continuing their education as full-time students, fully-employed degree
recipients and senior executives.

SOURCE Pepperdine University

Douglass Gore, Director of Public Relations of Pepperdine University,
+1-310-568-5580, GraziadioPR@pepperdine.edu