When the three women heard their team\u2019s name called as the winner of the fall 2015 student pitch contest, they were overwhelmed but felt gratified.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the hard work paid off,\u201d said Christi Himiob, a junior Spanish Translation major, after the pitch contest on Dec. 15.<\/p>\n
Himiob is one of three co-founders of Karuda Skincare, a company created while the students were pursuing Montclair State\u2019s Certificate of Entrepreneurship<\/a>. The certificate, which consists of three 3-credit courses, culminates with a student pitch competition each semester. Students who competed in the fall contest are eligible to pitch in the TeleBrands Inventors Day for Aspiring Entrepreneurs<\/a> pitch contest on May 4, 2016, when the victorious team will win $10,000.<\/p>\n Himiob\u2019s co-founders are Larissa Elvers, a senior Child Advocacy and Policy major, and Sacha Vincent, a junior Finance major. Karuda makes and sells beauty products that use coconut oil as a base, including makeup remover, lip balm, scrub, deodorant and hand cream. The three students each won a $100 Amazon gift card.<\/p>\n Vincent said the three entrepreneurship courses (ENTR 201, 301 and 302) helped her grow as a person, and business owner, while cementing bonds with her teammates.<\/p>\n \u201cEven if we didn\u2019t win, just our relationships worked so well. We would have won anyway,\u201d said Vincent.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n See photo album from the pitch competition, and Certificate of Entrepreneurship ceremony.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Vice Dean Kimberly Hollister<\/a>, one of the judges, said the Karuda team had moved the farthest along in its entrepreneurial journey.<\/p>\n \u201cThey knew their market, they could articulate their position, they already had customers,\u201d said Hollister.<\/p>\n Another judge, alumnus Daryl Bryant<\/a>, co-founder and CEO of Hudson Horizons, said he was impressed with \u201chow quickly they\u2019ve gone from an idea, to where they\u2019re hitting the streets with a product.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTheir presentation was flawless,\u201d said Bryant, who is also a member of the Feliciano Center for Entrepreneurship\u2019s advisory board.<\/p>\n The third judge, Katie Sferra<\/a>, agreed that Karuda had the most well-developed idea. And then there was one other factor: \u201cThey had customers who paid them real money,\u201d said Sferra, a 2015 alum with a degree in Anthropology and the Certificate of Entrepreneurship. Sferra was on the winning team for the fall 2014 student pitch contest<\/a>.<\/p>\n The three founders of Karuda said they will be working hard next semester to grow their business, and prepare for the TeleBrands contest. \u201cWe won\u2019t need the $10,000, but we want it,\u201d said Himiob.<\/p>\n The other teams in the fall 2015 pitch contest, which also are eligible to pitch during the TeleBrands competition, were:<\/p>\n\n