School of Business Students Awarded for Excellence in Entrepreneurship
The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Business and the Entrepreneur's Club hosted the 13th annual TheOther40 competition. This event provided SIUE students with real-world experience in developing business models, pitching business ideas and learning the skills needed to launch a new business successfully. 11 finalists competed for $10,000 in prize money donated by The Martinson Family Foundation.
School of Business senior Anna Armon won first place and $5,000 in TheOther40 competition with her product The Eco-Mop, an environmentally friendly product that makes cleaning sustainable from production to disposal. The company’s mission is to make sustainable products accessible to others while also limiting excess waste. Anna Armon also competed in another pitch competition organized by the St. Louis Regional Entrepreneurship Educators and was selected as the second-place winner among teams from nine regional universities.
“Winning first place in TheOther40 competition gave me confidence in my abilities to have a successful career as a young female entrepreneur,” said Armon. “I have a business that I will take full-time after graduation, and this contest provided me with additional resources to thrive as a business owner.”
LaRae Bigard, Ugochukwu Chukwuemeka Eleon, and Hunter Mathews won second place and $3,000 in TheOther40 competition with their company Stage-N-Go. The company aims to provide collapsible, lightweight and affordable furniture for home staging, which is the process of styling and furnishing a property for sale by enhancing its appeal to potential buyers.
Graduate school research assistant Jesuspower Madukwe won third place and $2,000 in TheOther40 competition with his company Learngual, a language learning and pronunciation platform that provides personalized learning using artificial intelligence and machine learning models.
The other finalists of this competition include Charles Jessup, Amelia Stotlar, Caydn Schuchman, Lyle Hallberg (Cleanz), David Daiber (Dibes Designs), Claudia Orteza, Kailey Lacy, Edgar Mcclintock (Crochet Critter), Abby Beck (Abby’s Life Skills Center), Amanda Wickman, Jackson Best, Sydney Camillo, Jakhari Gant (Ever Charge), Brenden Kuzel (Cleaning Cubes), Samuel Thompson (Waking Head Rest), and Noah Foreman (All in One Kimchi Kit).
This year, the competition introduced two new features: a business model report and customer interviews. The finalists submitted a business model report that combined the traditional business plan and the lean startup methods. They also conducted customer interviews to validate their assumptions and assess the market demand for their ideas. During the pitch competition, the finalists shared the key insights they gained from implementing these two approaches.
Photos: Senior, Anna Armon, won first place in TheOther40 competition with her product The Eco-Mop.
The second-place team and their company Stage-N-Go.
Jesuspower Madukwe won third place with his company Learngual.
