Poole College Students Find Success at 2018 Lulu eGames; Sweeping “Design and Prototype” Category

Thursday, April 5, 2018 – NC State Poole College of Management students continued their tradition of strong performances at the 2018 Lulu eGames. Over 500 audience members cheered on as  teams from Poole’s Jenkins MBA programs won awards in their respective categories, competing in a field of 178 teams.

With multiple awards, current Jenkins MBA student David Majeski presented Tuéri (Latin for “guardian”), a company focused on improving the safety of cyclists through innovative and aesthetic accessories that improves property security and provides a method of communication with motorists. Tuéri was the most recognized entry of the evening with first place finishes in “New Venture”, “Design and Prototype”, and “Judges’ Choice.” Each award comes with a monetary prize, giving Majeski a $16,000 total and increased recognition as he looks to expand this product. The Tuéri prototype and its team efforts reflect a concept from the Product Innovation Lab course, part of the Jenkins MBA curriculum. 

Tuéri wasn’t the only winner from Poole College of the evening however, as Poole teams swept the “Design and Prototype” category with Tuéri in first, HyPower Solutions in second and Mitramag Canine receiving the third place prize. The teams received $5,000; $3,000; and $2,000 respectively. 

HyPower Solutions, a creative energy storage solution that uses hydrogen as a source of fuel, is led by current Jenkins MBA student Frankie Womack, with team members Oscar Llama and Adam Read, all three Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization students. The team also includes Jake Trimble, a master’s student in NC State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. HyPower was also the third place finisher in the “Built on Cloud” category that recognizes ventures built using IBM’s cloud services and received $2,000 for this award.

Not content with just one innovative technology however, these same students added a fifth team member in Jenkins MBA student Benjamin Tennant to create Mitramag Canine; a heart valve fix for dogs that leverages a patented device to provide curative results to the 8 million dogs suffering from heart disease. Adam Read took the lead in presenting this entry.

Poole students continued to win awards throughout the evening in the “Social and Environmental Impact” category with Freshspire and 321 Coffee taking first and second place respectively. Freshspire, led by management student Thomas Armstrong and business administration student Sofia Abdo, is a network that connects food suppliers who have excess produce to restaurants who want to buy it at a lower cost. 321 Coffee, led by business administration student Elise Romola, is a growing coffee shop that is completely staffed by individuals with special needs.

Vital Guide won second place in the “Built on Cloud” category. Vital Guide is a digital, preventative health tool providing fitness and stress management for employees. This innovation was presented by Jenkins MBA student Anthony Workman.

Additionally,  two teams from Poole were finalists but did not place in the final round.

• Corkboard Coffee+ | Student: Kyle Taylor, Business Administration
  Corkboard Coffee+ is designed to make affordable, local art a permanent part of the morning coffee run for hundreds of thousands of people that otherwise have inconsistent access to it.
• Workout@Work | Student: Jelyse Dawson, Jenkins MBA
  Workout@Work is a digital, preventative health tool providing fitness and stress management for employees.

This is the tenth year of competition for the Lulu eGames with entries representing colleges from across NC State University. The Lulu eGames are managed by the Entrepreneurship Initiative at NC State University, and are open to all students at NC State.

Read more about the Lulu eGames in this WRAL TechWire story and the NC State story. Several of the MBA students in this story will be graduating on May 12.

About the TEC Graduate Courses

Technology, Entrepreneurship and Commercialization (TEC) is a multi-semester course sequence where students evaluate real technologies and intellectual properties from the UNC system campuses, U.S. Navy, NASA and the National Security Agency (NSA). The work of the graduate student often results in new business startups, and the courses are comprised of Jenkins MBA students as well as graduate students from colleges across campus. Since its inception, TEC has enrolled more than 500 students and created over 30 known startups employing more than 450 people. These firms have raised over $450 million. In the past 18 months, two companies with TEC roots, Locus Biosciences and Tethis, have collectively raised over $34 million.