Finalists Chosen for KLI's 2nd Annual Africa Business Plan Competition

New York, NY, March 11, 2009 --(PR.com)-- After careful consideration, the competition committee of the Knox Lawrence International (“KLI”) Africa Business Plan Competition, has narrowed the pool of applicants to three finalists and two alternates. The competition, now in its second year, seeks to award business plans submitted from top tier business school teams that focus on new business ventures in Sub Sahara Africa. The selected business plans cover areas of healthcare, energy and education.

From the Columbia Graduate School of Business; “The Adventures of Ada and Ayo” is an entertaining educational platform for children of Nigeria to address societal challenges faced by the youth of the nation. From the Sloan/Harvard School of Business team; “Eggtech” proposes energy services via a 12V battery system, for people in Tanzania who have no means or access to grid electricity. From the Darden School of Management; “TeleMed Africa” offers low cost healthcare consultation services via mobile phone to Kenyans.

Business plans from the Yale School of Management and the Columbia Graduate School of Business have been chosen as alternates for the competition.

Finalists will congregate on April 10th 2009 in New York City. The event will be hosted by the Columbia Graduate School of Business, where the three plans will be presented to a judging panel of nine industry professionals.

Further information on this year’s competition and its participants can be found on the competition website: http://abpcompetition.knoxlawrence.com

About Knox Lawrence International, LLC:
Knox Lawrence International, LLC is a New York based private equity firm focused on acquiring and growing middle market non-core subsidiaries of Fortune 500 and other large companies in sectors that are undergoing significant transitions, such as the utility sector. Knox Lawrence focuses its investment activities in the following sectors: IT Services, Business Process Outsourcing and Energy Services. The firm has historically made acquisitions of non-core subsidiaries of US based publicly traded utilities and used these acquisitions as platforms to build high growth businesses.

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