On October 29th, North Iowa Area Community College’s Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center held the 2019 NIACC Pappajohn Center Entrepreneur Gala which recognized outstanding entrepreneurs in the area. One of the entrepreneurs recognized was UNI student, Samantha Schupanitz. She received special recognition of Student Entrepreneur of the Year for her business, Sami’s Sock Monkeys.
Maddie Palmersheim and Robert Sales, both UNI student entrepreneurs, attended this year’s Techstars Startup Weekend in Kansas City from September 20-22. The Techstars Startup Weekend is an immersive startup experience focused on hardware and product design that challenges teams to get feedback, make changes, and stay open to the idea of pivoting if a plan fails.
Ten UNI students competed in the 2019 UNI Entrepreneurs Elevator Pitch Competition. The competition was held in the Business & Community Services Building on Tuesday, October 15th. The students were split into two different categories, founders or idea generators, for competition depending on what stage their business was in. Founders already have an existing start up business and currently have revenue from either selling a product or providing a service. Idea Generators are in the very early stages of their business and have yet to earn revenue.
From the application process all the way to the final pitches, our founders have worked hard to make progress on their businesses. After battling through failures, successes and the overall stress that comes with starting a business, the founders were more than excited to share where their business is now and the journey of how they got there. They had that opportunity to share their story at Demo Day on August 2nd. Demo Day was a pitch completion and celebration of all that the founders had accomplished over the last nine weeks.
Students from UNI, Iowa State, University of Iowa, Buena Vista, and Iowa Lakes Community College got together for the Okoboji Entrepreneurial Institute which was held August 4-8th. At OEI, the students participate in entrepreneurial simulations and have the chance to network with fellow students and community members
Our final two students participating in the first-ever UNI Early Founders Program are Denzel Washington and Spencer Walthall. These entrepreneurs were hand-picked because the JPEC staff saw potential in their preexisting business ventures and were confident that this opportunity would provide valuable experiences for these students.
We are so excited to launch our Early Founder's Program this summer! This program will kick off on Monday, June 3rd and will wrap up on Friday, August 2nd. We have six driven students who will be developing and growing their business plans throughout the summer. Each business is at a different level of growth, which leaves plenty of room for improvement for each student. We are excited to be working with such a motivated group of young entrepreneurs and sharing their progress with you. Leading up to the kickoff date, we will be revealing more about each of our students and the businesses they…
On Friday, April 26th, three tenants whose businesses are located in the R. J. McElroy Student Business Incubator program competed in the Pappajohn Student Entrepreneurial Venture Competition. The competition was hosted in Des Moines with John Pappajohn and Dan Storck with Equity Dynamics along with Dan Cosgrove, Chief Strategy Officer at Growers Edge Financial in Johnston, IA and Tom O’Reilly, President of Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, MA judging the competition to determine the three state finalists.
Gabe Groothuis, a Sales Management and Organizational Leadership double major, from Marion, Iowa, was recognized at the UNIBusiness Leadership Celebration on April 11, 2019 as the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center Student Entrepreneur of the Year. Gabe was UNI’s 2018 Elevator Pitch Competition winner and represented UNI at the National CEO conference in Kansas City this November advancing through to the second round before being eliminated.
Corey Behrens, a junior, of Mason City, Iowa, studying digital media production and the owner and operator of Simplistic Views, a photography and videography startup has been selected to receive the 2019 R.J. McElroy Student Business Incubator Student Business of the Year award.
