Category: Office of Engaged Learning – Entrepreneurship

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Office of Engaged Learning Office of Engaged Learning - Entrepreneurship

For the Big iDeas Pitch Contest this month, SMU undergraduates compete for $1,000 for their startup

Get the word out that SMU students can start their own businesses by having an idea, developing a pitch, and entering the Big iDeas Pitch Contest.

Click on the links below to lean more and RSVP!

Family Weekend – Friday, September 29: Big iDeas Pitch Contest – Win $1000 in 90 Seconds – Hughes Trigg Ballroom 

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Office of Engaged Learning Office of Engaged Learning - Entrepreneurship Office of Engaged Learning – Research

Engaged Learning Fellowship and Big iDeas

ELF and Big iDeas

The Office of Engaged Learning invites students to apply to their premier funding opportunities: the Engaged Learning Fellowship and the Big iDeas Pitch Contest!

The Engaged Learning Fellowship (ELF) provides up to $2500 of funding for students pursuing a capstone project in research, service, or creative inquiry. The deadline for the current cycle is September 15. Applicants submit a project proposal along with a letter of recommendation from their faculty mentor. Proposals are reviewed by a faculty panel.

The Big iDeas Pitch Contest awards up to $1000 of funding for student entrepreneurs. A brief application is due by September 27, and participants will deliver a live 90-second pitch to a panel of judges on Friday, September 29 from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

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Office of Engaged Learning Office of Engaged Learning - Entrepreneurship Student Academic Engagement & Success

Big iDeas is Back!

 

Pitch to win $5,000 at the Big iDeas Business Plan Competition. Applications are open now! Apply at smu.edu/bigideas.

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Office of Engaged Learning Office of Engaged Learning - Entrepreneurship

Mantra and Co. Fuses Culture with Commerce!

 

by Hannah Green ’26

Founded as a jewelry brand by Nrithi Subramanian 25’ (pictured above sitting on a chair) in 2020, Mantra and Co. is a South Asian diasporic brand that relaunched on November 1st to additionally sell apparel and other accessories. Mantra and Co. seeks to promote unity within the diversity of the South Asian community! The brand sells crewnecks, t-shirts, and other apparel that merges South Asian culture with a western streetwear aesthetic. The company is one of profit and progress as a portion of its proceeds are used to help fund a non-profit hospital in Chennai, India! 

Along with her team of fellow college students from around the country, Nrithi is passionate about reclaiming the desi culture, narrative, and community! Here are her own words:

“I created this idea, of a desi fusion apparel brand 3 years ago, while confused by my identity, hoping to create the representation for South Asian Americans that our society lacked. 3 years later, my dream, Mantra and Co, is live.

This is for the children that grew up ashamed of their culture, navigating the duality of their upbringing, and building their identity from the ground-up. This is ours.” 

 

To learn more about Mantra and Co., visit mantra and co. 

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Office of Engaged Learning Office of Engaged Learning - Entrepreneurship

Sprout Food Solutions Tackles Food Waste!

by Hannah Green ’26

2022 Big iDea pitch winner Ashwin Rajesh ‘23 is a senior majoring in Computer Science with a minor in Business Administration. Ashwin cofounded Sprout Food Solutions in May of this year as a SaaS startup primarily focused on the reduction of kitchen food waste. The company addresses the complex problem the food industry faces concerning how much perishable food truly needs to be bought in order to meet demand, seen as billions of dollars worth of food is lost every year in the U.S. due to overbuying.  

Using a machine learning data regression, Sprout Food Solutions operates as a dashboard that predicts sales data for the following week. This sales data is used to more accurately determine the amount of perishable food inventory that should be ordered, reducing food waste! 

 

“Waste Prevention at Heart, Machine Learning in Mind” 

 

To learn more about the company, visit Sprout Food Solutions  

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Office of Engaged Learning Office of Engaged Learning - Entrepreneurship

Office Opening at SMU Incubator

New Office Opening at the Incubator@SMU!

Are you a startup founder in need of Office Space? The Incubator@SMU has a new opening for a 12 x 12 space, perfect for a two person team.

To view please contact, Camille McCallum at camillew@smu.edu

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Office of Engaged Learning Office of Engaged Learning - Entrepreneurship

Big iDeas $1000 Pitch Contest

Big iDeas Competition will be held this Friday! We encourage all to attend and support young entrepreneurs. If you’re competing, please register for pitch practice here!

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Office of Engaged Learning Office of Engaged Learning - Entrepreneurship Office of Engaged Learning – Research

Office of Engaged Learning September Newsletter

OEL newsletter clip

The Office of Engaged Learning’s September newsletter is available to read online. Check out upcoming workshops and events, along with recent news about our entrepreneurship and research programs. Click here for a PDF version

 

 

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Office of Engaged Learning - Entrepreneurship

Big iDeas $1000 Pitch Competition coming up!

The Big iDeas $1000 Pitch contest is coming up during family weekend on Friday Sept 23rd.

Apply here! And you can be selected to have your 60 second pitch funded, and bring your Big iDea to life!

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Office of Engaged Learning Office of Engaged Learning - Entrepreneurship

Big iDeas and Incubator@SMU Entrepreneurship Report 2021-22

Read the latest report on Entrepreneurship Programs from the Office of Engaged Learning. Click the images to view larger versions.