October 7, 2015
First Annual Discovery Forum a Success!
Last Thursday, October 1st, ten teams participated in the first Discovery Forum hosted by
East Carolina University’s College of Business and sponsored by the NC State University’s Institute of Emerging Leaders, BB&T . This event was designed to discover innovative ideas from young social entrepreneurs. On October 1st, the teams presented their ideas to a panel of judges consisting of the Dean of the College of Business, Stan Eakins; local entrepreneur, Jeff Basham; ECU Small Business Institute Director, Michael Harris; ECU Provost, Ron Mitchelson; and Scott Daugherty, State Director of the Technology Development Center.
The top three ECU teams that will be moving further into the competition with with the ability to participate in the leadership development weekend at NC State University and a chance to win $10,000 to help their idea become a reality are:
First Place: Mona Amin (right) and team, FreshSpire
First Place: Mona Amin
FreshSpire is a multi-faceted system designed to increase communication between grocery stores and consumers to ultimately discourage food waste and encourage customers to purchase healthier produce at lower costs.
Second Place: Carlyle Rogers, University App Exchange
Second Place: Carlyle Rogers
University App Exchange is an online platform that will focus on bringing together all web-related applications, courses and programs developed by the University into a single marketplace.
Third Place: Ferdinand Rouse and Sara Dover, Textchange
Third Place: Sara Dover and Ferdinand Rouse
Textchange wants to make textbooks free for college students by offering them free digital access through our site while simultaneously allowing students the ability to buy, sell and trade textbooks they currently own.
Other teams which participated in the event include:
Brian Mitchell and Kathryn Denaro
PlayCare is a drop-off childcare and therapy center for young learners (ages 2-5) of all abilities, regardless of socio-economic status.
Cameron Jennings
SyllabEye® allows students to take a picture of their syllabi from a smartphone or tablet and automatically convert syllabus contents into events which can be added to their calendars and given custom reminders.
Anthony Pappas
MidTrade.net offers a college trading post for students to sell and buy items such as books, furniture, clothing, and endless other items.
James Huza
The development of a wrist band used to help cover liability with underage drinking.
Daris Scott, Tina Lassiter and Raymond Lassiter
You Are Empowered Community Services (Y.A.E.) is founded on a principle of outreach to partner with parents, children, and local education agencies to provide multifaceted opportunities to achieve a limitless community.
Enoch Young
Yapp is designed to address the uncast millions of voters with a clear comprehensive communication link to Capitol Hill.
Lee Everette and Kendrick Ransome
Gold Blooded Bully Kennel raises puppies with hearts of GOLD organization; it is health that is the real wealth.
Congratulations to the top three teams and good luck with the rest of the competition!