Howard University’s Office of Research, in partnership with humble ventures, an entrepreneurial collective, and Fiserv, a global provider of payments and financial technology solutions, recently announced the winners of PitchHU 3.0, an experimental-learning incubator program that helps accelerate participants’ businesses.
Developed by the Office of Research, Humble Ventures, and Fiserv in 2021, PitchHU celebrates and strengthens minority-owned businesses in the greater Howard University community.
The winners were:
Deeper Skin by Chioma Ndubuisi Elobuike: a full-body self-tanner specifically for people of color.
Nasci: an e-commerce marketplace that provides scientific reviews of beauty and skin products primarily for people of color, that is owned by School of Business sophomore Sarah Noel.
SwimMission Swim Cap by Candice Banks: a patented swim cap for ethnic hair and designed for people of color.
Our Story Books by Casandra Latney, a project coordinator in the College of Pharmacy, and Paul Miles, a classroom-tested, K-12 educational media that promotes reading comprehension.
Design2Print by alumnus and District resident Kelvin Ford: a design and wide-format printing service for Wards 7 and 8.
Through previous incubators, PitchHUhas successfully awarded more than 50 early-stage businesses. Previous winners have continued to grow their businesses by raising capital, building prototypes, hiring employees, and even expanding distribution to local, national, and international markets.
“PitchHU is ultimately about helping to drive culture change towards more entrepreneurship within Howard’s research community, which I believe will advance our discoveries further down the innovation stream and increase their commercialization potential,” said Terry Adams, head of Technology Transfer at Howard. “Howard University’s Office of Research has produced many significant patents, but we need to translate those patents into marketable products and services to be truly successful. PitchHU is helping to chart that path.”
James Wright Jr. is the D.C. political reporter for the Washington Informer Newspaper. He has worked for the Washington AFRO-American Newspaper as a reporter, city editor and freelance writer and The Washington…
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Source: Washington Informer
