On Friday, September 27, the Office of Engaged Learning hosted the annual Big iDeas Pitch Competition where 18 SMU inspiring undergraduate entrepreneurs pitched their ideas in 90 seconds to a panel of expert judges.
Our panel included:
- Ayo Aigbe, Founder and CEO of Hangio
- Dr. Helmuth Ludwig, Professor of Practice for Strategy and Entrepreneurship at SMU’s Cox School of Business
- Carlos Martinez, founding partner of Clement Capital Partners LP and Fund Manager for the SMU Impact Lab
- Dr. Seth Orsborn, Director of the Deason Innovation Gym
- Josh Taylor, director of the William S. Spears Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership at SMU Cox School of Business
- Morgan Stewart, Director of Programming at SMU Cox Spears Institute for Entrepreneeurial Leadership
We are thrilled to annouce the winners of this year’s competition! These innovative students captured the judges’ attention with their creative ideas:
- Ryland Adzich, The Creative Destination
- Yaw Botang, InfoSavvy
- Zain Dhatwani, Apni Duniya
- Mason Dierkes, Elusive
- Isabella Fleet, TIMIO News LLC
- Bryce Harper, Urban Crusader Technology
- Kennedy Honors, Sallie’s Halo
- Jude Lugo, Lecture Logger
- Emiliano Hernandez Posada, Terra Social Impact
- Anish Senthilkumar, The Active Mind Initiative
- Gregory Speed, Speed’s Meats
- Nrithi Subramanian, Mantra and Co.
- Ephraim Sun, Fuselink.ai
Thank you to all of the family and friends who attended in support, and a huge thank you to our supporters-the SPEARS Institute, Deason Innovation Gym, SMU Impact Lab, and HI-TIE-for contributing funding to support these student startups.