Business plan prize goes to '95 Wharton graduate

From startup bands to startup Internet companies, the second half of the 20th century has fostered risk, growth and reward -- trademarks of the free-reigning entrepreneur. This year's recipient of Wharton's Annual Whitney M. Young Jr. Business Plan Competition certainly embodies this spirit. Kevin Allen, a 1995 Wharton graduate, is the President, CEO and Co-Founder of New World Science and Technology Inc, which won the $10,000 prize last month. "There are times when we have major setbacks, but there are also times in the day when we feel like we are going to be the next Microsoft. Every success is an affirmation of our confidence," Allen said. In its sixth year, the Whitney M. Young competition is part of the African-American MBA Association's annual business conference where nearly 1,000 students, alumni, educators and professionals participate in a three-day mega-event. Twenty-seven years ago, the Wharton School pioneered the first-ever entrepreneurial center to promote the teaching of entrepreneurship on campus through conducting research and providing outreach and consulting services. The theme of this year's conference, "Implementing Change: Leadership in the New Era," is symbolic of Allen's mission, which is the development of a product called the CellTek Simulation System. This drug discovery system helps medical researchers "make better decisions," according to Allen. Despite New World's success and the fact that Allen's parents started their own company, he had little entrepreneurial ambition at the start. After graduating from Penn, he followed many of of his classmates to Wall Street, where he took a job at Salomon Smith Barney. But shortly after he completed his MBA -- in one year -- at the Goizueta School of Business at Emory University, New World invited Allen to head its company. Since then, he has pioneered aggressive financing and research efforts, launching the CellTek program after enduring his brother's diagnosis with leukemia five years ago. Today, his brother, Eric, serves as chief information officer of the company. New World's product, now in its last phase of development, should be released to several pharmaceutical companies sometime during the first quarter of 2001. This, however, was not the first time Allen was involved with the Whitney M. Young Jr. Business Plan Competition. When he was a Wharton undergraduate, Allen helped plan the conference. "It is a great opportunity to showcase an idea," said Allen, who attributes much of his success to his Penn education. "Wharton was everything," added Allen, commenting on having gone to school with such a motivated group of students who were both knowledgeable and aggressive. Beyond his academic experience, Allen said that a large part of his ability to take risks comes from his passion for athletics. At Penn, he was a member of the varsity football team. "Athletics teach you that you can't succeed alone in anything," Allen noted. "They also teach you discipline and how to solve problems and commit to relying on other people." Discipline and teamwork have fueled much of New World's success, according to Allen. The company is now just a few months away from signing with a pilot company to distribute the drug.