Fayetteville State University Graduate and Undergraduate 2015 Social Entrepreneurship Conference Teams: (L to R) Graduate Team presenters Marin Rachev and Jasmine Gaston and Undergraduate Team presenters Alita Baggett and Latia Carter.
Fayetteville State University competed in the 3rd Annual Social Entrepreneurship Conference sponsored by the University of North Carolina General Administration on February 11, 2015. Two FSU teams competed and progressed to the final round out of 44 teams from the other 16 institutions in the UNC system and were ultimately winners, effectively demonstrating their social entrepreneurial ideas and business plans to judges made up of CEOs, business, and industry leaders. Competition among 27 undergraduate teams and 17 graduate teams led to six teams selected as finalists in the undergrad category and four teams selected as finalists in the grad category. FSU was the only institution to have teams as finalists in both categories.
Both FSU teams’ social entrepreneur ideas made it to the final round, and each team was victorious winning trophies and monetary awards in the Graduate and Undergraduate categories. Specifically, FSU’s graduate team was 1st runner up (2nd place) and the undergraduate team was 2nd runner up (3rd place).
The graduate team’s social entrepreneurial idea is a proposed business for a product named CannaMix. CannaMix is a patent-pending insecticide developed at FSU in the Department of Biological Sciences by Dr. Shirley Chao, Associate Professor and researcher. This product is unique in that it is an organic hemp-based, non-toxic pesticide that is safe for humans yet equally effective as current pesticides used in the agriculture industry, most of which are highly toxic and often carcinogenic.
The undergraduate teams social entrepreneurial idea is a proposed business named Lovely’s Helping Hands that addresses needs of elderly, disabled and seriously ill individuals. This business provides food and essential prescription medicines to their target customer base through a service that delivers these items to their homes at a nominal cost based on a unique business model.
“I am extremely proud of the accomplishments of our students,” said FSU Chancellor James Anderson. “This contest is extremely competitive and consists of some of the best and brightest students in the University of North Carolina System. For our students to consistently rank near the top is a testimony to the caliber of teaching and research we do here at FSU.”
Teams were made up of students in the FSU School of Business and Economics and the College of Arts and Sciences. The team advisors/coaches were Dr. Steven Phelan and Mr. Greg McElveen in collaboration with Dr. Chao for the graduate team. The undergraduate team included business majors Alita Baggett and Latia Carter, and the graduate team included Marin Rachev, MBA student, Jasmine Gaston, MS Biology student, and Brian Olson, an undergraduate biology major.
FSU continues its winning streak and record of being the only university in the UNC system to have had a winning team each year since the SEC competition began in 2012. This year, for the first time, both FSU teams were winners. In addition, FSU was the only HBCU to be a finalist in the undergraduate category.
In the last three years, the winning teams have been from the School of Business and Economics with this year being the first year to include collaboration with the Department of Biological Sciences.
“I could not be more proud of what the School of Business and Economics and Biological Sciences students have accomplished this year in addition to our wins in the previous two years,” said Dr. Assad Tavakoli, Dean of the FSU School of Business and Economics. “The faculty advisors and students worked tirelessly to perfect the required business plans and to prepare for the competitive presentations. Their diligence this year as in the past paid off and is representative of the high standards we set for ourselves and our students.”
The first place winner in the undergraduate team category was UNC Asheville and in the graduate team category was North Carolina A&T State University.
Founded in 1867, FSU is the second-oldest public institution in North Carolina and is part of the University of North Carolina system. It offers nearly 60 degrees in the arts, sciences, business, and education at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels. It serves a student body of approximately 5,000 students and has a faculty and staff of approximately 800.
For more information, contact:
Dr. Marsha McLean
FSU Academic Affairs &
Social Entrepreneurship Conference Campus Representative
mmclean1@uncfsu.edu
(910) 672-2217