Submitted photo Kim Groark and Susan Bowen of Thrive Yoga accept a check from Ellen Bogage of Comcast as winners of the Start Right! Business Plan Competition, held in conjunction with the annual Women in Business Conference and Trade Show. Comcast is one of the sponsors of the competition.

Entrepreneurs Susan Bowen and Kim Groark have developed the right combination, according to a group of city leaders and business industry professionals.

The owners of the Rockville-based Thrive Yoga won top prize in the Start Right! Business Plan Competition at the annual Women in Business Conference and Trade Show. The event was held Friday at the Montgomery County Conference Center in North Bethesda.

Judges considered factors such as competitive strategy, knowledge, passion, projected financials and likelihood of long-term success when determining the winners.

The competition is designed to encourage and accelerate the start-up process for women-owned businesses in the Maryland, Washington, D.C., and northern Virginia region, said conference co-founder Nancy Regelin.

Cindy Crump, president and CEO of Lovettsville, Va.-based AFrame Digital LLC, which provides health monitoring to the eldercare market, won $2,500 for second place.

Nancy Shulman of Germantown finished third and won $2,000 for Experience America Inc., an international student exchange program between the United States and Spain.

Bowen said the best part of the competition was receiving advice from the expert panel of judges, which included Rockville Mayor Larry Giammo. One idea the owners implemented immediately came from Giammo, who recommended more classes for beginners, Bowen said.

Thrive Yoga opened in February at 1321-B Rockville Pike and celebrated its grand opening on Monday. The new center differentiates itself from local gyms and spas by offering a nature-inspired environment, with indoor trees and a waterfall, along with massage therapy and child care.

People living in Potomac, Rockville, Gaithersburg and Kensington have to trek to Bethesda to practice at a yoga center, Bowen said.

On the trade show floor, business owners and managers basked in the entrepreneurial spirit. The conference has grown steadily since it was initiated six years ago. More than 100 exhibitors and almost 400 people attended this year.

Participants ranged from novice entrepreneurs who have been in business less than one year to veterans who have been around for decades.

Keynote speaker Martha Barletta said the media often covers the "poor story" when it comes to women, highlighting how men make more money on the dollar and how women are uncomfortable making financial decisions.

"There is an enormous power that I never see," she added, emphasizing that women drive 70 percent of all new business ventures in the United States.

Barletta is the president of The Trendsight Group, a consulting firm that specializes in marketing to women.

In Maryland alone, women-owned firms account for 47 percent of all privately held businesses, generate about $20 billion in annual sales and employ almost 186,000 people, according to the Center for Women's Business Research.

Jamie Lapin, owner of Risk Management Group Inc. in Rockville, has been in business for 20 years and said tenacity is the key to maintaining a successful business.

"It doesn't all come together all at once, and you have to be prepared to hang in there for the long term," Lapin said.

It also helps to love what you do, she added.

"If you don't wake up everyday excited to do it, then you're gonna find yourself back in the corporate world very fast," she said.