KENT, Ohio - Eight finalists will compete in Kent State’s John S. and Marlene J. Brinzo Center for Entrepreneurship’s annual Spring Pitch competition on April 19 for a chance to win a share of $20,000 in cash prizes. The John S. and Marlene J. Brinzo Center for Entrepreneurship is housed in the Kent State Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship.
The event will take place from 4-6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 19 at the Kent State Student Center Governance Chambers. During the competition, Kent State entrepreneurship graduate Evan Schumann ’17 will be speaking to attendees about his entrepreneurial journey and how he became the President of L’uva Bella Winery. Evan was recently recognized in the Food & Drink category of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list.
In-person registration for the event is closed but virtual registration for the event is available here. Those who attend virtually will receive a link to view the pitch the week of the event.
The annual Spring Pitch helps Kent State entrepreneurship students launch and grow their startup companies and earn funds to support them. The eight finalists will virtually pitch their businesses to a panel of executive judges. This year’s finalists are as follows:
- Cliford Fumbui, a senior computer engineering major, will pitch Jollof Box.
- Jollof Box offers popular African foods for takeout and pick-up, including Jollof rice, fried ripe plantains and fufu. The company also offers catering services for events and parties. With over 500 satisfied customers in the Akron area, Jollof Box is dedicated to providing authentic African cuisine made with fresh ingredients and spices.
- Samantha Flucht, a senior fashion design major, will pitch Sammy Whammy’s.
- Sammy Whammy's is a gender-neutral, sweatshop free, made to be handed down children's clothing company. The company focuses on creating fun, colorful, whimsical clothing that kids are excited to put on every day.
- Sophia Edmunds, a recent fashion design graduate, will pitch REVEIL.
- REVEIL is the solution to women’s underwear that revolves around active lifestyles. With antimicrobial fabric and its consumer-based design, REVEIL is a one-of-a-kind product.
- Cedrick Kelly, a senior integrative studies major, will pitch Sckramble®.
- Scramble® is the preeminent daily competitive golf league network. Players, who range across all skill levels, enter to play in various 1-on-1 contests and 4-player tournaments for cash prizes. Sckramble® hosts competitions at traditional outdoor courses and indoor VR simulators.
- Mario Nunez, a senior entrepreneurship major, will pitch The Winning Way.
- The Winning Way features motivational speaker Mario Nunez, who provides positive, mindset-focused knowledge through motivational speaking and clothing and accessories. The clothing line creates a visual image of a winner that brings joy to the world, and re-enforces the motivational messages. Mario provides wisdom from many perspectives; from starting your own business to relationships to confidence. Mario’s social media pages also feature a weekly motivational video, garnering thousands of views across all social media platforms.
- Bradley Smith, a junior finance major, will pitch Finlit.
- Finlit creates gamified learning tools, textbooks, and curriculum designed to empower students with the financial literacy skills they need for a successful future. Finlit aims to expand its physical product line and develop Edtech software to provide a cohesive learning experience for college and high school students across the country.
- Kaitlyn Phillips, a senior entrepreneurship major in the early admission program for the MBA and Japanese studies minor and Oluwasemilore Akintelure, an MBA student, will collectively pitch Aampersand.
- Aampersand is a SaaS platform that helps aviation collaborators share flight-critical information. Drones and other aircraft in the Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) sector of aviation need to collect information about what’s happening around them. Aampersand is a conductor, orchestrating information flow between all parties in the AAM industry. Aampersand offers the first solution that solves the problems faced by this industry.
Judges for the event are as follows:
- Michael Capellas is founder and CEO of Capellas Partners, a strategic technology advisory firm. He serves on the boards of Flex (Chair), Cisco, JDA (Chair), Cylance and Solace Systems. He is a senior advisor to Blackstone and is also on the Advisory Board of Kony.
- Veronica Cook-Euell established her consulting firm in 2003, and established the dba, Euell Construction and Consulting Group in 2020. Euell Construction and Consulting is a full-service strategic supplier diversity consulting firm with expertise in construction outreach, engagement, community liaison and minority business development, and enterprise and workforce compliance inclusion reporting and monitoring. Cook-Euell serves as a Fractional Supplier Diversity team member with her dba, Euell Consulting Professional Services.
- Michael Solomon began his career with Apple Computers, Inc. to set up the company’s original dealer network when they were a $100 million company. He then ran sales and marketing for Aldus Corp., which created desktop publishing software and since 1990 has worked in Silicon Valley as an executive, venture capitalist, entrepreneur, board member and advisor. He recently served as the Board Chairman of Within 3 Corporation, a Cleveland-based medical industry software company from 2010 to its successful takeout financing with Insight Partners, a leading private equity firm, in 2020. He graduated from Kent State with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in 1974. He recently graduated from the Academy of Intuition Medicine with a Masters of Intuition Medicine degree.
- James R. Unger joined Miller Transfer in 1971 where he held various positions serving as Treasurer and Executive Vice President before becoming the President in 1996. Unger graduated from Kent State University in 1967 with a Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in management science.
- Sandra Volpe, MBA, is currently an independent Director on the Board of Directors of Republic Services (NYSE: RSG) and serves on the Finance, Nominating and Corporate Governance and Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility committees. Passionate about health, education, leadership development, DEI and entrepreneurship, Sandra is the incoming Chair of the Board of the American Heart Association, Eastern States Region; Vice Chairman of the National Advisory Board of the Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship and a National Trustee on the Board Of Trustees of Kent State University. Until retiring in June 2022, Sandra was senior vice president, Strategic Planning, Communications and Business Development Solutions at FedEx.
About Kent State University’s Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship
Kent State University’s Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship is among the fewer than 1% of business schools worldwide to obtain dual accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) in both business and accounting. The college offers 11 undergraduate majors, 14 minors, and an undergraduate Professional Sales Certificate; MBA; master’s degrees in accounting, business analytics and economics; four graduate certificates and a Ph.D. program. For more information about Kent State’s Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship, visit www.kent.edu/crawford.