Excessive Level College college students earned hundreds of {dollars} in startup funds for his or her companies throughout HPU’s 2023 Enterprise Plan Competitors on April 12. Pictured from left are Jake Lagana, Savannah Smith, Reeve Fatuova, Erin Morrow and Quentin Barrial, with outsized checks representing the quantity of startup funds they obtained.
HIGH POINT, N.C., April 17, 2023 – Excessive Level College college students earned hundreds of {dollars} in startup funds for his or her companies throughout HPU’s 2023 Enterprise Plan Competitors on April 12. The annual competitors is supported by Truist Monetary Company and the Steve Bell Household Life Expertise Endowment.
In the course of the competitors, 5 finalists competed for a complete of $30,000 in startup funds for his or her companies by presenting to a panel of enterprise leaders, who served as competitors judges.
Quentin Barrial, a junior Enterprise Administration main and entrepreneurship minor from Atlanta, Georgia, gained first place and $12,000 for his product, QuickTag. QuickTag is a brand new technology of misplaced and located labels that includes a custom-made QR code that may be positioned on any merchandise an proprietor needs to label. If an merchandise is misplaced, the finder can merely scan the code with their cellphone to get in contact with the proprietor by way of an nameless messaging platform. The finder can ship a message, place a pin on a map or notify the proprietor of the merchandise’s location by way of a photograph. As a result of no private contact info is shared, the privateness is protected for each the proprietor and finder.
“Successful symbolizes a profitable 9 months of unsure selections and journeys again to the drafting board,” mentioned Barrial. “QuickTag has obtained worldwide consideration and a rising viewers ever since its first public look. We’re delighted to know that many are tagging together with our mission to reinvent misplaced and located.”
Second place and $8,000 was awarded to Erin Morrow, a junior training main from Windham, New Hampshire, for Rossom Robots, the primary gesture-controlled robotic arm equipment which she designed for educators looking for to introduce superior applied sciences to their school rooms.
Third place and $5,000 went to Reeve Fatuova, a Class of 2026 entrepreneurship main from Ramsey, New Jersey, for BUSTZ, a top quality sports activities bra she developed for ladies athletes. Savannah Smith, a senior entrepreneurship main from Chesterfield, Virginia, and Jake Lagana, a junior pc science from Higher Nyack, New York, had been runners-up and every earned $2,500. Smith’s product, HatEase, is an insert designed to maintain a hat safe throughout sports activities or exercise. Lagana’s Picnic Membership is a luxurious loungewear and clothes model.
Dr. Shanté P. Williams, International CEO of Black Pearl International Investments, judged the marketing strategy competitors together with David Sofa, CEO of Blue Ridge Firms, and Malay Shah, director of Enterprise South Piedmont. Williams discovered the scholars’ enterprise plans marketable and, in some instances, already creating wealth.
“The marketing strategy competitors was merely high notch,” mentioned Williams. “The poise and presentation of the scholars rivaled seasoned entrepreneurs, and these college students will probably be miles forward as their companies proceed to scale. These college students made proud each the college and their advisors Kathryn Elliot, director of the Heart for Entrepreneurship and professor of the apply of entrepreneurship, and James Fakunle, assistant professor of entrepreneurship.”