(left to right) Dr. Ronald Cook, Daniel Jamet and Dr. Larry M. Newman

Daniel Jamet of East Windsor, a first semester senior entrepreneurial studies major, follows a growing number of Rider students who have won New Jersey Collegiate Entrepreneur of the Year awards.

Earlier this month, he was named runner-up in the 2007 New Jersey Collegiate Entrepreneur of the Year competition at an awards dinner at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Rider has now had seven students win eight awards in the annual competition over the last nine years. Dr. Ronald Cook, professor of Entrepreneurial Studies and Director of Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and the Small Business Institute®, said two students won first place honors and five have garnered second place awards. Tino Procaccini ’01 won two awards in 2001 – the New Jersey Collegiate Entrepreneur of the Year and the East Coast Collegiate Entrepreneur of the Year.

Jamet took second place for his lawn service business, Blades Lawn and Landscape, which he launched in the summer of 2005, a few months before he transferred to Rider from Mercer County Community College. He is now planning to expand into landscaping design with his brother, who is a landscape architect.

“This competition is becoming harder to win simply because of the growth of entrepreneurship programs in New Jersey and throughout the United States,” Dr. Cook said. “The visibility of this annual competition is also growing and there are many more applicants.”

In the New Jersey competition, there are first, second, third and fourth place awards. The first and second place winners are awarded $1,000 and $500, respectively, while third and fourth place win $300 and $200.

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