Don't use a purse? Try the brallet

First-year MBA student Sara Tenenbein hates carrying her purse.

"I used to clip things into my bra," she said.

And according to research conducted by her Wharton Business Plan Competition team called SCM Inc., a lot of women agree that having to carry something is annoying - especially when taking part in physical activities like dancing at a club.

Her team's solution to this problem earned them a spot as one of 25 semifinalists in the competition.

Participating teams in the tenth annual competition, which is open to all Penn students, have to submit a written description of their business concept, target audience and possible competitors. Six of the semifinalists are undergraduates.

To remedy the purse problem, SCM Inc. came up with the idea for a brallet. Acting as both a silicone breast enhancer and a wallet, the brallet - inserted inside a brassiere - will carry small items like money and keys.

Given that the brallet will be inserted inside the bra, women will only be able to carry the small bare essentials, but Tenenbein said that it will liberate women from the burden of having to carry their belongings at all times.

Other ideas range from socks designed for below-knee amputees to new social networking technology.

Semi-finalist team Sustenance Health Food hopes to provide great tasting but healthy food products at a reasonable price for diabetics in India.

"India is becoming the diabetic capital of the world," first-year MBA student and team leader Jothiram Athreya said.

According to Athreya, there are currently 41 million diabetics in India, and the figure is expected to double in the next 10 years.

Although the team is focusing specifically on the needs of diabetics at the moment, they hope to target populations from other lifestyle-induced diseases, such as obesity - another growing problem in India.

Wharton freshman Josh Wais' team Isle Mobile seeks to help friends stay in touch with each other by creating a social-networking service, similar to Facebook, using mobile technology.

Those signed up for the service will be able to simultaneously share what they are up to with a specified list of friends through text messages.

The service will "facilitate conversation for people on the go," Wais said, by simplifying the process of relaying messages among friends.

"You'll be able to find out what your friends are doing while they are doing it," he added.

By March 21, the selected teams have to submit formal business plans in which they add more detail to their ideas. Out of the 25 semi-finalists, only eight teams will be chosen to compete at the finals, which will be held on April 30.

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