Leddy is Winner of South Dakota Big Idea Contest

Korbin Leddy, Milbank High School agriculture education student, placed first in the South Dakota BIG Idea competition in Aberdeen on Wednesday, December 11, with his business idea of Korbin’s Steak Express.

The purpose of the contest is to foster entrepreneurship among high school students. Competitors consider new ideas and opportunities for creating a business in their own region. There were 276 entries in this year’s competition with eight finalists selected to present their ideas in Aberdeen.

Paul Van Dover, Milbank student, was also one of the finalists with his business plan of Vandy’s Lawn Care.

Jerry Janisch, Milbank ag teacher, received the Partner in Business Award at the event for his support of the students in the contest.

Leddy’s concept overview was “serving a niche market by promoting, selling and delivering Korbin’s Steak Express consisting of different grilling meat pack options. Living in northeast South Dakota, near Big Stone Lake, many summer lake cabin residents travel from a distance or surrounding communities to spend the weekend or summer at Big Stone Lake. Having to bring their summer grilling meat or stop at a local grocery store can be an inconvenience.” 

Leddy received $1,000 cash, and scholarship offers for $2,000 from Northern State University and Presentation College and $2,500 from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. 

VanDover’s business plan stated, “Vandy’s Lawn Care will start in Big Stone City, South Dakota. We will start in our neighborhood where homeowners like to have their yards looking nice. That’s where Vandy’s Lawn Care comes in. I’m looking for people getting too old to mow, people with large families that don’t have time to mow, or people that don’t have the equipment to mow. Also the lake homes give us another opportunity.”

The finalists present their business plan to a group of judges in a time frame of 10 minutes. Before the award ceremony, each participant must give a 30-second elevator pitch to the judges and audience.

Leddy and Van Dover were paired with an Aberdeen business mentor to assist the students with their presentation and elevator pitch.   

Milbank agriculture education students Laura Johnson, Harley Davis, Keara Van Hoorn and Natalie Meyer received honorable mention in the competition. They participated in the Honorable Mention portion of the South Dakota Big Idea where students were given an opportunity to present their business idea to an audience in a two-minute time frame, to gain public speaking experience.