GWSB students Kenneth Gannetta, MBA ’21, and Skye Kussmann, MBA ’20, and teammate Carrie Gannetta won the New Venture Track in the 2020 GW New Venture Competition (NVC) with their entry People Powered Doors, a system that captures and stores kinetic energy generated from manually operated swing and revolving tours. They received $20,000 in start-up funding for winning the category and an additional $5,000 award as the Opportune Clean Energy and Healthcare Prize winner.
The annual event, which began in 2008, is the 8th largest collegiate competition in the country. The NVC provides GW students, faculty and alumni with real-world experience in entrepreneurship, competing in three tracks — Tech, Social and New Venture — for cash and non-cash prizes totaling more than $500,000. Competition funding comes from GW deans, corporate sponsors and individual donors. The initial funding for the competition was provided by a grant from Annette and Senator Richard Scott (R-Fla.).
GWSB was well represented among 2020 NVC prize-winning teams:
- Ichosia Biotechnology — Tech Venture Track Winner ($40,000) — David Hyon, BBA ’21
- Benjamin — Runner-Up Prize ($5,000) — M. Amin Hosseini, PhD ’21, and Michael Rand, PhD ’21
- BladesWork Unlimited — Runner-Up Prize ($5,000) — Robert Plante, MBA ’21
- HotMaps — ParagonLabs Prize for Workplace Innovation ($5,000) — Gilad Kabilow, MTA ’20
- Plantarion — Best Food & Beverage Industry Venture Prize ($5,000) — Andy Nevers, MBA ’22
- Zuulun — Best Art & Design Prize ($10,000) — Keila Davila-Olmo, MBA ’18, and Yumjirdulam Olontumen, MSPM ’22
Details and the winning teams' project pitches are available on the NVC page. Congratulations to all the competitors!