Winners Announced for Business Entrepreneurial Pitch Competitions

More than 60 high school and college students participated in the Bulldog B.I.T.E. competition and Bulldog Pitch Day.

The top six pitches in each competition advanced to the finals that took place on campus, Nov. 16. Finalists pitched their concept or idea for a product or service to a panel of judges for the chance to win a portion of the $7,000 in financial awards that were available. Pitches were limited to two minutes with a question-and-answer session of four minutes.

Bulldog B.I.T.E. was open to students from Truman and Moberly Area Community College. Out of the 32 students who participated and 15 video pitches, six individuals/teams advanced to the finals.

Truman students Saron Gebremichael and Nahom Jember won first place in the Bulldog B.I.T.E. competition. As the winners they received the Amanda Gioia Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award and earned an award prize of $3,000 for their pitch of “Value College Prep” that assists high school students in Ethiopia with college application/placement.

Students Krishna Chebolu, Habib Nasir and Mohammed Abdikebir placed second and received an award of $2,000 for their “WhatNow” app to help people find campus/community events. Trenton Kiesling placed third and received an award of $1,000 for the idea of “Dill-Lightful Pickleball,” an entertainment venue with Pickleball courts.            

Bulldog Pitch Day had six finalist positions that was made up of 10 students from Kirksville High School. Tonya Biston and Ellen McNeely won first place for a cosmetic tool with an app and received a $500 award. Jersey Herbst and Adi Baumgartner placed second for their pitch of home delivered meals and received a $300 award. Garret Williams and Lucas Reinsch placed third for their pitch of a GPS tracking device for archery arrows and received a $200 award.

These competitions were made possible through the generosity of Doug (’94) and Diane (’95) Villhard, Amanda Gioia (’93) and the School of Business.

For more information about this year’s competition visit bulldogbite.truman.edu/winners.