The University of Vermont (UVM) yesterday announced a new initiative that will fund and support students in launching their business ideas and growing them into successful enterprises in Vermont at a special Grossman School of Business (GSB) event yesterday. The Joy and Jerry Meyers Cup is a business launch competition made possible by a donation to GSB by Chip Meyers, the son of two UVM alumni, and his wife Louise Meyers representing the Meyers Family Trust.
The goal of this competition – the first of its kind in Vermont – is to select, mentor, and finance UVM undergraduate entrepreneurs to create new Vermont-based business ventures, which profitably contribute to the greater economic, social, and environmental fabric of Vermont.
The Joy and Jerry Meyers Cup starts in fall of 2023 with funding for the next ten years, and aims to help launch the businesses and careers of outstanding undergraduate entrepreneurs at UVM. Each year, the grand prize winner will receive $212,500 in cash along with in-kind services to help grow their business idea in Vermont after graduation. The competition is open to undergraduate seniors at UVM from any degree program who are actively starting new ventures in Vermont, preferably with strong social impact.
“We are pleased to host this first-of-its-kind initiative that will help empower our students to build businesses in Vermont, create more opportunities for in-state innovation, and contribute meaningfully to the state’s economy,” President Garimella said. “At UVM, we take seriously our commitment to advance the economic and social well-being of Vermont. The Meyers Cup is an exciting way for our most innovative students to jumpstart their contributions to our state’s business success.”
Joy and Jerry Meyers met as undergraduate students at the University of Vermont. Their children grew up skiing in Stowe, including Chip Meyers, who along with his wife Louise Meyers made this generous donation from the Meyers Family Trust to Grossman School of Business in honor of his parents. The donor’s goal is to showcase UVM’s student entrepreneurs, with the top prize launching the winner from concept to reality, and also to create Vermont-based organizations that will benefit the university and the State of Vermont.
“We are grateful for the very generous commitment to UVM's Grossman School of Business in memory of Joy and Jerry Meyers that will support UVM’s entrepreneurial students in bringing their business ideas to life,” said GSB Acting Dean Barbara Arel. “The Grossman School of Business is the perfect venue to steward an initiative like this. It’s incredibly meaningful to us as a business school because it will bring our substantial portfolio of existing entrepreneurial activities to the next level. The Joy and Jerry Meyers Cup will become a keystone event and point of pride for the university for years to come."
Several corporate partners have already offered to donate services to participants, including Fresh Tracks Capital, Hula Lakeside, Dinse, VCET, Fuse, and Gallagher, Flynn & Company, LLC.
View coverage of the event by WVNY-TV/WFFF-TV. For more information, including competition rules and schedule, and to apply for the Joy and Jerry Meyers Cup, visit go.uvm.edu/meyerscup.