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Smurfit MBAs Outsmart US Students in Alltech Pharma Competition

Date: 25 Jun 2009

A group of MBA students from the Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School at University College Dublin have beaten off stiff competition from the University of Kentucky, USA to win first prize in the Alltech Pharma Competition.

Photo caption: Back row from left to right: Winners of the Alltech Pharma Competition, Gerard Lacey, Aidan Furlong, Clare O'Sullivan and Stuart Kerrigan with Professor Frank Bradley, UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School (front left) and Aidan Connolly, vice president corporate accounts, Alltech (front right).

The Alltech Pharma Competition is a recent initiative created by animal health and nutrition company Alltech, a global business founded over 28 years ago by Irishman, Dr. Pearse Lyons. The competition which stems from the company’s innovative nutrigenomics research programme examining the effect of nutrition on gene expression, ultimately aims to generate the blueprints for the establishment of a new company, Alltech Pharma, a company that would focus on natural human healthcare.

The five students, Clare O'Sullivan, Aidan Furlong, Stuart Cahill, Stuart Kerrigan and Gerard Lacey, were awarded $4,000 US dollars for their entry to the competition, a company prospectus including a visionary business model, a business development plan, a marketing strategy and a marketing plan, a risks and potentials analysis, and a summary of findings for Alltech Pharma.

“From the data generated by our nutrigenomics programme, we expect to develop a series of very exciting new products, the creative application of which, could have profound effects on human health. Since these technologies will lead us into what would be an unconventional field for the company as leaders in animal health and nutrition, we believe that it would be appropriate to develop these technologies within a new company – Alltech Pharma,” explained Dr. Pearse Lyons, president and founder of Alltech and member of the competition judging panel.

This new company would ultimately be publicly listed due to the considerable investment required for the necessary research and development. 

The exclusive Alltech Pharma Competition was open to MBA students at the University of Kentucky, USA and MBA students at the Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School at University College Dublin.

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