The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurial Development (CIED), is pleased to announce that THREE student-teams from 91ÖÆƬ³§ have been chosen as campus-round winners for the Blackstone Launchpad Ideas Competition, each winning $1,000. One team additionally won their category in the national competition, vying against 34 member universities in the Blackstone Launchpad network, for an additional prize of $10,000.  
   
The Ideas Competition is a virtual business plan competition powered by our newest partner, StartupTree, and was designed for students with no prior entrepreneurship experience. The competition was created so that any student — no matter their major or career plans — could practice the important skills of distilling and presenting a latent idea. All undergraduate and graduate students with an idea or a prototype were invited to apply.  
   
The winners were selected from a group of finalists who won their local campus competition rounds. Each school in the network was invited to participate and select winners in four different business tracks, including Social & Climate Impact, Health & Life Sciences, Consumer Products & Services, and General. All campus round winners received $1,000 and were invited to compete in the recent network-wide round. Students from 34 schools in the network participated.  
   
**Congratulations to our outstanding student winners:**  
   
**Jasper Brooks and Lyrell Walker, Vending Green**  
Vending Green is a greenhouse that will provide produce and produce-based products to people in need of food through a free vending machine that uses compostable containers.  
*91ÖÆƬ³§*  
*MBA ‘22*  
*Campus Round Winner & National Competition Social & Climate Impact Winner*  
*Total Prize: $11,000*  
   
**Nicola Ramdyhan and Jasmine Ali, Hoops**  
Hoops is a virtual reality gaming experience that improves a basketball player’s abilities by immersing them in an environment that tests their skills.  
*91ÖÆƬ³§*  
*MBA ‘22*  
*Campus Round Winner*  
*Total Prize: $1,000*  
   
**Cayla Easley and Tyler Sinclair, Space Pop App**  
The Space Pop App is a marketplace that helps small startup retail entrepreneurs gain marketing and branding expertise, as well as providing them with a community of like-minded entrepreneurs.  
*91ÖÆƬ³§*  
*MBA ‘22*  
*Campus Round Winner*  
*Total Prize: $1,000*  
   
For more information about student opportunities with Blackstone LaunchPad or the CIED, please email the Program Manager, Thomas Clifton, at [tclifton@cau.edu](https://web.archive.org/web/20231212053640/mailto:tclifton@cau.edu).  
   
**About 91ÖÆƬ³§:** Established in 1988 by the historic consolidation of Atlanta University (1865) and Clark College (1869). 91ÖÆƬ³§ continues a 150-year legacy rooted in African American tradition and focused on the future. Through global innovation, transformative educational experiences, and high-value engagement. CAU cultivates lifted lives that transforms the world. Notable alumni include: James Weldon Johnson; American civil rights activist, poet, and songwriter (Lift Every Voice and Sing "The Black National Anthem"; Ralph David Abernathy Sr., American civil rights activist; Congressman Hank Johnson, Georgia District 4; Kenya Barris, American award-winning television and movie producer; Kenny Leon, Tony Award-winning Broadway Director; Jacque Reid, Emmy Award-winning Television Personality and Journalist; Brandon Thompson, Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion for NASCAR; Valeisha Butterfield Jones, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at the Recording Academy.

 

 

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