Building ‘a center for innovation’ at Fairfield U.

Frank Serravalli”™s days began at 4 a.m. with a phone call to web developers in Johannesburg, South Africa, and ended with an evening call to the firm”™s New York office.

In between, The Winning Trade L.L.C. founder worked full time as a summer intern for investment banking giant Barclays Plc. in New York City.

“It was a very grueling workweek,” said Serravalli, currently in his senior year at Fairfield University. “It was rewarding though. I learned that it doesn”™t matter what time of the day you have to get up ”” it”™s about if you”™re willing to get up, if the thing that you”™re waking up for is worthwhile.”

The “thing” Serravalli was waking up for was a web-based trading simulator that, according to mywinningtrade.com, “combines the world of online gaming with the financial markets.”

Serravalli founded The Winning Trade a year ago after taking home top honors and $10,000 in prize money from the university”™s first-ever Student Business Plan Competition.

Chris L. Huntley, an associate professor of information systems and operations management at Fairfield University and co-chairman of the competition, said he and fellow co-chairman Mukesh Sud were “just deliriously happy with how everything worked out” in the event”™s first year.

“The university is very much getting into more than just entrepreneurship. It”™s trying to become a center for innovation,” Huntley said. He cited an interdisciplinary health sciences initiative that involves the construction of new facilities and the addition of a concentration in entrepreneurship within the Charles F. Dolan School of Business”™s management department.

The Business Plan Competition, however, “is not just a business school competition ”” it”™s for the whole university,” Huntley said. “We”™re trying to get people from the school of engineering, the arts and sciences, and we”™d love to get some people from the nursing school.”

There were two winning teams announced April 16 following presentations by the finalist teams: SenseFit, which proposed an advanced fitness and activity monitoring device, won for the venture track category, and inCognito Climate Controlled Hats, which proposed a personal heating and cooling system built into a hat that could be worn by cancer patients and others, won for the social enterprise category.

The SenseFit team includes Elizabeth Cortez, Stephanie Cruz, Bernardo Navarro and Nicole Stark, while the inCognito team includes Alex Booth and Darren Mondezie.

Other venture track finalists included:

Ӣ BluStrip: WattU Control, which proposed a Bluetooth-enabled power strip;

Ӣ House N Stuff, an existing web platform to promote musicians; and

Ӣ Good2Go, which proposed a social platform for managing nighttime activities and coordinating plans among groups of people.

The other social enterprise track finalist was LuxoElemento, which proposed to develop a solar-powered iPhone case and to devote the proceeds to investing in solar power within developing nations.

For the 2013 competition, $20,000 in prizes were awarded, including $12,000 to be divided among the first- and second-place teams in the venture track, $7,500 to be divided among the top two teams in the social enterprise track and $500 for the team with the top semifinal presentation.

Serravalli reflected that while he had the idea for The Winning Trade prior to the competition, the competition was instrumental in helping him to develop his plan and fund the development of his minimum viable product, the web platform.

After he graduates in May, Serravalli hopes to attain a master”™s degree in accounting from Fairfield University.

Serravalli said he and his sister, who doubles as his business partner, will continue to develop The Winning Trade with plans to launch an iPhone application.