2016 Ole Cup Participants
2016 Ole Cup: Business Pitches & Student Presentations
Saturday, May 7, 2016
Viking Theater
2016 Ole Cup: Keynote Address and Awards
Saturday, May 7, 2016
Sun Ballroom
Core Technologies: Andrew Reiter ’16 (Second Prize Winner)
To launch Core Technologies, we have invented an ultra-portable cell phone charger that is thin enough to fit inside a credit card slot in a wallet, a purse, or even on a keychain. We recognize that cell phones have globally transformed life as we know it. Cell phones have become our primary form of communication. Not only do we use them to keep us connected with our social life, but also for work, which can often lead to a constant state of low battery life. Despite all the benefits that cell phones offer, we constantly struggle to keep them charged. To counter this, we carry around a cell phone charger with us everywhere we go, but what happens when we forget our charger? Our product solves this issue as the thinnest, most compact, and portable external cell phone charger on the market today.
Nongowa-ABC: Leonard Vibbi ’17, Timothy Joseph ’16
Nongowa-ABC is a community based farming social venture in Eastern Sierra Leone, founded in October, 2015 by the sponsorship of St. Olaf College FINSTAD grant. The business promotes sustainable livelihood strategies to increase the resilience of local vegetable farmers, mostly women, who were socio-economically affected by the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone; through the sales of locally produced fresh organic vegetables to members of Nongowa community, at an affordable price.
Blue Dog: Jessica Landa ’16, Kaylen Guzzi ’16, Julia Lavanger ’16 (First Prize Winner)
Each time a woman encounters denim, she is forced to fit her body into one of just ten sizes. With each company determining their own scales and measurements, women are often left with lower self-esteem and no jeans to show for it. Blue Dog Denim aims to change that experience, through the creation of a new sizing method. Modeled after men’s denim, using both waist and inseam measurements, this method provides twenty-two sizes that embrace each unique body. We feel that by emphasizing our innovative sizing method and our social responsibility initiative, our target market will be eager to purchase our jeans due to the ease of knowing their size and that their jeans stand for something greater.
Stemantics: Shaquille Brown ’19
What if kids in the developing world could have access to curricula that are based on 25 years of research by Stanford University; instruction that focuses on STEM careers and real world connections, and technology that constantly adapts to kids’ unique learning style that is always accessible? Stemantics makes this possible to elementary school kids in the Caribbean by providing access to proprietary technology that is designed and proven to create the world’s most accelerated learners. At Stemantics we believe that kids have the potential to change the world, join us in giving them the tools to unleash that potential.
Northport Labs: Duncan Blue ’16 (Third Prize Winner)
Northport Labs (NPL) is first and foremost dedicated to making better beer. We connect breweries to the scientific forefront, offering laboratory services, consultation, and yeast banking. When microbreweries in particular are a growing domain, more individual breweries are opening, and the beer market steadily becomes more saturated. Our services give our clients the means of differentiating their product from their competitors, as well as upholding the quality standards necessary for successful regional distribution. Northport Labs is a passionate, startup laboratory firm that work with passionate, startup breweries. Equipped with the biological and technical experience microbreweries may be lacking, NPL educates and equips clients, avoiding the pitfalls and intimidation factor of the scientific side of brewing.
Maji Fish Pond Kit: Grace Lilly ’19, Daniel Lilly ’15, Nicholas Hopkins ’15 (Best Social Venture)
Small‐scale fish farming is an income‐generating activity practiced throughout Sub‐ Saharan Africa. Three yield‐increasing factors are water filtration, aeration, and circulation, however no cost‐effective methods for these exist on the market for subsistence farmers. Our innovative fish pond kit will be an inexpensive solar‐powered system that will help fish farmers improve output, allowing them to increase their income. This kit is an extension of work we have done in East‐Africa over the past several years that has involved developing novel solar irrigation systems as well as installing three fish ponds within HIV+ communities, where we will now test/demonstrate the kits.
Qopo: Benjamin Le Cam ’16, Charles Johnson ’16, Lars Midthun ’16
Every day millions of people do not reach their maximum productivity due to lack of good sleep. Qopo’s Learning Wake-Up Light is a device that emits two different lights to help users fall asleep and wake up feeling refreshed. By balancing the hormone levels in a user’s’ brain, the Learning Wake-Up Light provides a better night of sleep from start to finish. As a connected device, the Learning Wake-Up Light monitors sleep and shares the correlated data with Qopo’s mobile application. This data allows the device to make recommendations for improving the user’s sleep patterns. At Qopo, we use technology and analytics to help us monitor our lives and improve our overall well-being. We strive to make our users’ lives productive, happy and rich.
atPoint: Hunter Lin ’16, Leah Plasek ’16
Given today’s technology, current conventional diagnostic testing techniques in leading market industries are outdated because it is now possible to develop highly reliable, sensitive, and accurate devices suitable for industrially developed and developing healthcare markets. Although conventional techniques are reliable, they require sophisticated and inaccessible instrumentation and a well-equipped laboratory. Furthermore, the sophistication and high price-tag of these techniques prevent access of endemic and developing countries to these technologies. atPoint’s goal is to change the paradigm of diagnostic industry by developing “at the point-of-care” medical technologies, while at the same time increasing the access of endemic and developing countries to innovative diagnostic technologies. We aim to continue the development of our rapid, cost-effective, and at the point-of-care immunologic multiplex system that utilizes a wide array of nanotechnology-based assay for toxicology, infectious disease, and drug testing.
Nimble Fingers: Precious Ismail ’17, Pumla Maswanganyi ’16
The Nimble Fingers Project aims to equip 20 young women from low-income backgrounds in Lagos, Nigeria over a period of 6 weeks with vocational skills and materials needed to create and run a sustainable small-scale business. Empowering young women in this way allows them to become financially independent, and provides an alternative solution to underage marriage. To effectively target the problem of violence against women and build peace within the community, both education and the support of the community is necessary. Nimble Fingers aims to create systems that eliminate the cultural factors of patriarchal dominance that perpetuate violence against women.
UnitedVision: Nahom Kebede ’17, Aaron Miller ’17, Claudio Barboza ’16, Edward Veem ’17
UnitedVision, is a benefit corporation that focuses on assisting citizens above the age of 50 to adapt to the age of technology. 15% of Americans are offline, of which 58% are over the age of 50. UV will break technological barriers by providing personal assistance and creating facilities where citizens can acquire critical digital skills. UV is focused on accomplishing the following goals:
• Increase life satisfaction for older adults
• Reinforce confidence in disenfranchised workers who want to re-enter workforce
• Create a platform for passage of knowledge
Closing the digital literacy gap of older adults will further increase productivity and creativity within our society.
Mithila Chitrakala: Deepak Shah ’18, Nikesh Yadav ’19
Mithila Chitrakala is committed to empowering maithil women through their own painting skills. While most women are illiterate (65%) and unemployed in Khairba, Nepal, they still have painting skills that are confined within their houses. This business will lay a foundation for these women to produce paintings commercially and it will act as an overseer of production, management and sale of Mithila paintings. The idea is to set up technology center where Mithila paintings will be stored and sold online. Additionally, women will learn how to use the computer, Internet and communicate with family members working abroad mainly as labors in the middle east.
RED Food: Malika-Naomi Dale ’16, Katie Myhre ’16
Restaurants Eat Direct (RED) Food is an electronic farm to fork marketplace. RED streamlines and consolidates produce and meat transactions between farmers and restaurants to maximize a restaurant’s local food sourcing capabilities. Farmers list products to RED’s online produce list and restaurants purchase produce from multiple farms in a single RED Market transaction. RED furthers farmer and restaurant relationships by conveniently distributing product availability, creating a common communication platform and sharing unique qualities of the restaurants and farmers. RED software is scalable and applicable to diverse markets due to local food’s national demand and global possibility.
The Schedule
Welcome & Registration
8:30 a.m. – Coffee and pastries (Buntrock Crossroads)
Business Pitches in Viking Theater (Buntrock Commons)
9:05am – Core Technologies
9:15am – Nongowa-ABC
9:25am – Blue Dog
9:35am – Stemantics
9:45am – Northport Laboratories
9:55am – Maji Fish Pond Kit
10:05am – Break
10:15am – Qopo
10:25am – atPoint
10:35am – Nimble Fingers
10:45am – UnitedVision
10:55am – Mithila Chitrakala
11:05am – RED Food
Meet the Students (Buntrock Crossroads)
11:15 a.m. – Reception in Buntrock Crossroads to meet the students pitching
Lunch & Awards Ceremony in the Sun Ballroom (Buntrock Commons 3rd floor)
11:45 a.m. – Keynote by John Long ‘91, CEO Avionte
1:00 p.m. – Event concludes
Judges Ole Cup 2016:
Brad Cleveland ’82, former CEO, Proto Labs
Adam Gettings ’04, CEO, RoboteX, Co-Founder at Leeo
Nathan Jacobi, Associate Director, Piper Center
Mark Jacobsen ’79, Managing Director, O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures
John Long ’91, CEO, Avionte (Keynote Speaker)
Scott Nelson ’83, CEO/CTO, Reuleaux Technology
Jonathan Pearce ’01, CEO, Zipnosis
Jennifer Sawyer ’94, Principal, Rebound Enterprises
Bryan Shealer, Associate Director, Piper Center
Darin Steffl ’13, CEO, Minnesota WiFi
Dick Vogen P’95/’99, Logistics Technology Consultant
Connor Wray ’14, CFO, Jonny Pops
John Zicarelli ’71, Chairman and Managing Partner, CAME, LL