2018 Participants
Aion Inc: Abubakarr Sidique Konneh ’21
Aion Inc., a health, technology and innovative venture, gear towards providing a first-class drone delivery service that is unparalleled to other health-tech companies. We intend to connect healthcare, technology and logistics to bring a social innovative platform that is safe, reliable, accessible and eco-friendly. Aion Inc. products include but not limited to drones that carries maternal packages, emergency blood supplies, medical equipment about 2.5kg from a central hub to clinics in inaccessible areas. We intend to initiate this service in Sierra Leone, where access to supplies is insurmountable improving the quality of life of maternal mothers, babies, seniors and patients.
Blue Infrastructure: Achinth Murali ’18, Hesham Amin ’20
Blue Infrastructure is a business initiative to reverse the supply and demand gap in the construction industry’s labor market through marketing/consulting strategies with a goal to revolutionize the industry. Our philosophy is simple: bridge the gap between workers needed and workers available by rebranding the industry with prestige, collaboration, and other attributes attractive to young people. Blue Infrastructure is not simply a hiring agency, it’s a consulting group creating opportunities in the industry by professionalizing new recruits’ skills, focusing on human capital i.e. millennials for construction, introducing modern technology in construction management, and ultimately challenging the stigma of construction workers.
CryptoForest: Markus Helmken ’18
Cryptocurrencies generated billions of dollars of value and a range of innovative new businesses in 2017. Despite the huge wealth in the industry, there are very few ways to give back to communities or social causes with cryptocurrency. As a result, there exists an opportunity to establish a business that provides social good in the crypto space. CryptoForest will be the world’s first cryptocurrency reforestation project; planting a tree for every digital tree it sells. A space for the plantation of trees has been arranged in Colombia and developers have been contacted. What remains is the capital for startup costs.
Dumbells and Dogs: Catherine Harrington ’18
Dumbbells and Dogs is a gym based in Chicago for the fitness enthusiast and their dogs. This gym is designed for the people who want to get a good workout without leaving their dogs at home after a long day of work. The goal is to attract the idea to clients between the ages of 20-30 years old and eventually have Dumbbells and Dogs involved with animal shelters throughout the Chicagoland area.
Gay Apparel: Wael Awada ’19, Kenzi Lauman ’19 (Third Prize Winner)
Members of the LGBTQ community do not have a clothing brand that is truly dedicated to expressing their identities through clothing. Some brands like H&M or American Eagle sell limited edition designs during June the Pride Month carrying the rainbow flag or other generic LGBTQ slogans. Gay Apparel, an already popular handembroidered clothing brand in St. Olaf and Carleton, solves this problem by providing members of the LGBTQ community a clothing brand that is fully dedicated to expressing their identities through fashion. With Gay Apparel, LGBTQ individuals can buy clothing made by LGBTQ people for LGBTQ people—a percentage of GA’s revenue goes to LGBTQ empowerment organizations.
Homeward Sound: Michael Wegter ’18
Homeward Sound will change your world. As locality is trending around the globe (l o c a l beer, l o c a l foods, l o c a l news), it’s a terrible realization that it’s still impossibly hard for local and independent musicians to get an audience for their music. Homeward Sound will be the force to change people’s music listening behavior; we will turn ears toward local music. This is done through good digital marketing, content curation, and artist and event promotion. Homeward Sound, a music marketing agency, will make independent musicianship easier and more profitable for hundreds of thousands of performers.
News Line: Christian Schlaefer ’20
NewsLine is a modern take on news information and journalism designed to counter the prevalence of ‘fake news’ and misinformation. Organizing content through an adjustable curation system and recognizing differing opinions across the spectrum, NewsLine allows readers to gain a holistic understanding of issues. Straddling a space between news information and education, NewsLine expands its user base by becoming the news source that is accessible to everyone. This unique approach to news information makes NewsLine a viable product for both public news consumers and educational institutions.
Teranga Strings: Anna Wolle ’18 (Best Social Venture)
Teranga Strings (TS) is a music program in Dakar, Senegal that allows students of any age to study violin. TS embraces a holistic approach to artistic expression, as it combines body awareness through exercises in light movement and breathing with classical violin technique and improvisation. Classes are conducted in small groups, and are offered weekly throughout the year starting in July of 2018. Students will engage in outreach performances in order to encourage confidence in artistic expression
Texima: Patrik Stefik ’18 (Second Prize Winner)
The lack of efficient customization and product distribution of suspenders hinder many small businesses across America from expanding their brands to a wider audience. Texima Group is an online marketplace, merchant, and distributor of high quality, affordable, and customer-specific suspenders. Any individual or company can simply go to our website, insert their logo, and our graphic designers along with the manufacturing team will take care of the rest. Texima Group is American expansion of a former European business, Texima, and our technological approach combined with nearly twenty years of experience on European markets ensure both scalability and product sophistication. Texima Group’s intuitive electronic interface combined with social media advertising is by far superior to our main competitors in Michigan and California.
Willinda Constantine: Shaquille Nevray ’19 (First Prize Winner)
What if stylish women around the world could prepare healthy meals to go without having to lug around
unattractive, middle school-esque lunch bags or force tupperware into their handbags? Willinda Constantine was borne out of a desire to provide career women with affordable, luxury lunch bag options. Our stylish designer lunch bags empower the modern woman, especially those with budget or dietary restrictions, to take her favourites with her on the go, to work, school, or wherever… without spending a fortune or sacrificing on style. We make meal prepping chic!