As part of its collaboration with the University of Tulsa Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, JOLT@TUBusiness and Regent Bank, the University of Tulsa Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship hosted the Regent Bank Hurricane Pitch Competition on Nov. 10th. In this "Shark Tank-style" competition, the top three teams won a total of $25,000 in cash prizes for their ideas and business ventures.
The ideas I am seeing in them are ground-breaking ideas that have the potential to make a big impact in not only Tulsa, but throughout the world.
'I cannot express enough how incredible the Regent Bank Hurricane Pitch Competition was,' said Chris Wright, director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. It was incredible to see the energy and support of Golden Hurricane students, faculty, staff, and community partners throughout the day.
Chris Wright, the director of the Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, said that the Regent Bank Hurricane Pitch Competition was incredible in its inaugural year. Throughout the day, there was an incredible amount of energy and support from Golden Hurricane students, faculty, staff, and community partners."
The competition, designed by faculty in UTulsa's Collins College of Business, provided students with personal and professional development through workshops and educational programming, mentorship for industry-specific pitch decks and access to accomplished experts. There were 18 teams who applied, and of those that applied, 10 were selected to pitch their plans to a panel of three judges.
The winning pitch was from Marama, led by Adriaan Lombard and James Higgs, doctoral students in the university's elite Cyber Fellows program, who are part of the team. The team hopes to combat global food insecurity by introducing the marama bean as a mainstream crop. It is known that marama beans grow in the driest conditions of the Kalahari Desert in Africa, and therefore require very little input from farmers. Lombard and Higgs created beverages flavored with marama beans, and they won $15,000 for their pitch.
A team led by Julian Abhari, a senior double majoring in computer science and cyber security, and Daniel Marques, who is starting the MBA program at The University of Tulsa in January, placed in second place. For their pitch, SkinCheck app users were able to upload images of skin lesions and moles and quickly determine if they were cancerous. They received $7,500 for their work.
In third place was My Gamer with Seth Hastings (MS '23), Eric Peterson (BS '21), and Corey Bolger (BS '17), all of whom are Cyber Fellows doctoral students. With My Gamer, fans have the option to select which perspective they would like to see during esports competitions, and for their pitch they received $2,500.
This is an invigorating experience to watch their creativity and how hard they have worked on these projects," said Sean Kouplen, Chairman and CEO of Regent Bank, who added, "I see in them ground-breaking ideas that can make a real difference not only in Tulsa, but around the world."
Regent Bank has pledged to sponsor the Hurricane Pitch Competition for the next ten years, and the competition will be held every fall.
The University of Tulsa is the source of this information
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