With screams, leaps and hugs, the three women students who are Karuda Skincare celebrated as their team\u2019s name was called May 4 as the winner of the third annual $10,000 TeleBrands Inventors Day for Aspiring Entrepreneurs at Montclair State.<\/p>\n
Larissa Elvers, Christiana Himiob and Sacha Vincent were clearly surprised that their team, which manufactures and sells coconut-oil-based skincare products, had won the university\u2019s student pitch competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in complete disbelief,\u201d said Elvers, a senior majoring in Child Advocacy and Policy. \u201cTo know we have $10,000 to work with and move forward with just wow\u2019ed me. I was speechless.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked her initial thoughts when Karuda was announced as the winner, Himiob, said, \u201cI can\u2019t tell you, because it\u2019s profane.\u201d But then the Spanish Translation major, who is a junior, added: \u201cMy initial thought was just \u2018Thank goodness.\u2019 It felt really good. It really inspired me to pursue this even further.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vincent, a senior Finance major, said: \u201cI was completely surprised and baffled because I saw how great the other teams were. They were amazing, every single one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The TeleBrands Inventors Day for Aspiring Entrepreneurs<\/a> is funded by AJ Khubani, a Montclair State alumnus who is CEO\/president of TeleBrands<\/a>. Karuda was one of six finalists in the afternoon round of pitches, after 16 student teams competed in the prelim round in the morning on May 4. The 16 teams spent two semesters pursuing the Feliciano Center\u2019s Certificate of Entrepreneurship<\/a> (a Minor in Entrepreneurship<\/a> is now available). As part of the Center\u2019s curriculum, students identify a real-world problem, brainstorm a solution, test their product\/app\/service with real customers, finance their business with seed capital raised as private money donated to the Center, and then learn how to pitch the business to investors\u2014or the pitch competition\u2019s panel of judges who are entrepreneurs. The seed capital for the 2015-2016 school year was donated by Guy Falzarano, president and CEO of Lightbridge Franchise Company.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n View photo gallery by Mike Peters <\/a><\/em><\/p>\n View candid photos shot on a cell phone<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Video recap of the event <\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Video of winner being announced<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI think Karuda has shown what a team of people who like each other and get along can achieve,\u201d said Prof. Ross Malaga, who taught Elvers, Himiob and Vincent in the advanced entrepreneurship courses of ENTR 301 and 302. \u201cOf course it also comes with a great deal of hard work. Not only did they constantly work to refine their pitch, but they were out in the market selling their product and creating new products.\u201d<\/p>\n Sales to customers was one thing that impressed the judges about Karuda. The judges for the final round of pitches were: Manish Israni, vice president of Market Research & New Product Acquisition at TeleBrands; Andrew R. Gatto, a former executive with Toys \u2018R\u2019 Us and Russ Berrie & Co.; and Marjorie Perry, president and CEO of MZM Construction & Management Co. Khubani usually serves as lead judge for the competition, but Israni filled in after Khubani needed to be overseas for business.<\/p>\n Anthony \u201cSully\u201d Sullivan, the enthusiastic TV pitchman for OxiClean, served as the master of ceremonies for the final pitches.<\/p>\n The judges for the prelim round were: Rachel Braun Scherl, co-founder and principal of SPARK Solutions for Growth; Andrew Kangpan, associate at ff Venture Capital; Krishnamurty Kambhampati, serial entrepreneur; and Mukesh Patel, founder of JuiceTank.<\/p>\n The winning team can do whatever it wishes with the $10,000 prize money, and the teams that won the past two years decided to split the money among team members for their personal use. But Himiob, Elvers and Vincent asked for the $10,000 check to be made payable to Karuda so they can invest the money in the company, which was incorporated earlier this year. The women said they\u2019d like to use the prize money to have their products professionally formulated and tested, which would allow them to produce and sell in large quantities.<\/p>\n The Karuda students thanked their professor, Malaga, for the guidance he provided.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole program changed my life. Malaga changed my life. He\u2019s one of those teachers,\u201d said Himiob.<\/p>\n The pitch contest\u2014and Feliciano Center entrepreneurship courses, in general\u2014had an impact on other students too.<\/p>\n Lam Nguyen, a senior majoring in Management, said the pitch contest was an exciting experience, even though his team Trash Talk was a finalist but did not win. He said he walked away with something else, even if he didn\u2019t get a slice of the cash prize.<\/p>\n \u201cIt brings me a lot more confidence in public speaking and how to work cooperatively with people. It\u2019s truly defining teamwork for me for when I get into a corporate level of work,\u201d Nguyen said. \u201cI really learned that entrepreneurship is very hard. It\u2019s never an easy road, but it\u2019s exciting nonetheless.\u201d<\/p>\n Prof. Jason Frasca, who also taught ENTR 301 and 302 and coached half of the student teams, said, \u201cThe overall quality of the students\u2019 presentation was very impressive. They communicated on a high level the problems they were solving and the markets they were trying to disrupt. Year over year, the presentations have significantly improved, and all the students should be very proud of what they accomplished this year. I\u2019m looking forward to seeing next year\u2019s presentations.\u201d<\/p>\n Although women are under-represented as entrepreneurs, four of the six teams that were finalists in Montclair State\u2019s pitch contest had all women members. The Feliciano Center has a special mission to nurture and encourage women entrepreneurs, including students who aspire to have their own business someday.<\/p>\n The final-round judges cited Layrd as first runner-up. Layrd created a product that makes replacing the garbage bag a simple process. Layrd team members are: Michelle Carcamo, senior, Management; Rohkaya Fall, junior, Marketing; Alexa Golieb, senior, Theater Studies; and Latrece McKenzie, junior, Psychology.<\/p>\n The second runner-up team was Wake\u2019Em Up, which created an alarm clock pillow, and consists of: Dana Egan, senior, Finance; Bryan High, senior, Management; Dylan Ocasio, sophomore, undeclared; and Anthony Woolford, senior, Physical Education.<\/p>\n The other finalist teams were:<\/p>\n The other 10 teams that competed were:<\/p>\n Media coverage of the event:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
\n