April 2, 2020 - Three students from a New Product Development course, taught by Taylan Yalcin, Ph.D., placed in the top 25 of the E-fest National Business Pitch competition, an annual event supported by the University of St. Thomas and the Schulze Family Foundation in Minneapolis, MN.
Cheyenne Prado, Mackenzie Goodlett and Natalie Webb pitched "For the Love of Hemp," a natural sunscreen using locally grown hemp. Usually, the team and their faculty advisor would join the other teams from around the country in a weekend event in Minneapolis, MN to compete for money to support their business. This year, due to the COVID-19 restrictions, the competition completed with the top 25 pitches recognized.
There were 119 submissions from 65 colleges and universities across the country. The "For the Love of Hemp" team wins $3,000 and CSUCI will receive $1,000 for the Entrepreneurship & Small Business Institute (ESBI).
Other teams from CI who submitted include:
- "C & K Sustain Clothing Line" from Chandelier Yako and Kaylee Lozano, Dr. Cindy Sherman’s Business students.
- "ListUp" from Kirsty Nguegang & James Hipolito, Dr. Jason Isaacs’ Computer Science students.
All E-Fest finalist teams can be found at https://eiexchange.com/content/e-fest-2020-results.
For more information contact Cynthia Sherman at cynthia.sherman@csuci.edu.