By Ashley D. Diggs
Special to the AFRO
ROCKVILLE,
Md. – Women business owners Dr. Loleta
Robinson and Colleen Nye of Syan Biosciences tied for third place with
Jessica Feltz of The Turning Point at the fifth annual Women-In-Business and StartRight! business plan competition in
Rockville on
April 1. StartRight!, developed
by Rockville Economic Development Inc. (REDI) is a local competition held each
year to award women who have potentially successful business plans for
their recently established businesses. REDI was established to strengthen
and broaden the economic development of Rockville
by helping existing businesses and new
companies start, grow, finance and manage their organizations. Other
winners, Lisa Chan of ZaraCom Technologies won first place and Sharon Flank of
InfraTrac placed second.
Loleta Robinson, 36, the only Black woman to succeed in the
April 1 competition, wants to develop “the next generation of medicine.”
“The market is competitive, but I’m here to improve some of
its products,” she said. Robinson’s award-winning “Lab-on-a-Chip”
commercialized technology platform converts laboratory functions onto a small
chip for diagnostic testing for heart disease and cancer, water and food
analysis, and chemical biological agent detection. Prototype, the initial
product of “Lab-on-a Chip” is a research based assay test kit that will later
become a hand held device for diagnostics.
“The opportunity for women entrepreneurs in this area is
increasing,” Robinson said. “Women business owners basically formed their own
community.”
After earning degrees
in medicine and in business, she decided to take the entrepreneurial path.
“I saved every dollar and tax refund check since 2002,” she said, to begin her
Baltimore-based company, Syan Biosciences. With assistance from
government grants and state funds, Robinson can continue to develop Prototype.
Once “Lab-on-a-Chip” is fully advanced, it can be sold to hospitals, clinical
labs, academic institutions, physicians' offices, acute care centers and other
biotechnology pharmaceutical companies.
Third place winners received an estimated $1,200 and three
months of virtual, customized office resources. Robinson says the
winnings will aid with early product development for Prototype. The
expected completion date for phase one, a research-only diagnostic kit for heart
disease and cancer is 2011.