Hosted by BYU Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization
In an effort to promote entrepreneurship and raise money for charity, the BYU Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization hosted its 2nd annual Omniture Throwdown — the world’s largest rock, paper, scissors tournament.
Last year’s event set a record for the largest tournament of its kind with more than 500 participants. This year’s competition on April 11 attracted 826 people, enough to set a new world record, pending certification from Guinness.
After passing through several eliminating rounds, freshman Kenny Matthews, from Alpine, Utah, won the $3,000 grand prize and earned the title of rock, paper, scissors champion. Amy Ball, a freshman from Calgary, Canada, finished second and won $1,500.
In organizing this tournament, the BYU Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization also raised $870 for Enterprise Mentors International, a nonprofit organization that provides business training, mentoring and microfinance services to entrepreneurs in developing nations.
“We are very excited about the mission of Enterprise Mentors International because it focuses on helping entrepreneurs around the world succeed in their ventures,” says Derek Pando, BYU CEO president. “By donating a portion of participants’ registration fees to EMI, we hope to bring awareness to this cause and spark students’ interest in entrepreneurship.”
As an additional way of promoting entrepreneurship, the competition was sponsored by Omniture, a leading provider of online business optimization software, which was co-founded by a former BYU CEO president, Josh James.
“Entrepreneurship is fundamentally about believing in ourselves,” says John Mellor, executive vice president of business development and corporate strategy at Omniture. “In sponsoring this event, we wanted students to ask themselves, ‘Why not me?’ Somebody is going to start the next great company, why not BYU students?”
The BYU Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization promotes and encourages entrepreneurship among students. The organization also assists current student entrepreneurs in their ventures through annual events and competitions.
Writer: Irasema Romero
