Clark Atlanta University News February 24, 2022 Clark Atlanta University Students Named Blackstone Launchpad Ideas Competition Winners The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurial Development (CIED), is pleased to announce that THREE student-teams from Clark Atlanta University have been chosen as campus-round winners for the Blackstone Launchpad Ideas Competition, each winning $1,000. One team additionally won their category in the national competition, vying against 34 member universities in the Blackstone Launchpad network, for an additional prize of $10,000. The Ideas Competition is a virtual business plan competition powered by our newest partner, StartupTree, and was designed for students with no prior entrepreneurship experience. The competition was created so that any student - no matter their major or career plans - could practice the important skills of distilling and presenting a latent idea. All undergraduate and graduate students with an idea or a prototype were invited to apply. The winners were selected from a group of finalists who won their local campus competition rounds. Each school in the network was invited to participate and select winners in four different business tracks, including Social & Climate Impact, Health & Life Sciences, Consumer Products & Services, and General. All campus round winners received $1,000 and were invited to compete in the recent network-wide round. Students from 34 schools in the network participated. Congratulations to our outstanding student winners: Jasper Brooks and Lyrell Walker, Vending Green Vending Green is a greenhouse that will provide produce and produce-based products to people in need of food through a free vending machine that uses compostable containers. Clark Atlanta University MBA '22 Campus Round Winner & National Competition Social & Climate Impact Winner Total Prize: $11,000 Nicola Ramdyhan and Jasmine Ali, Hoops Hoops is a virtual reality gaming experience that improves a basketball player's abilities by immersing them in an environment that tests their skills. Clark Atlanta University MBA '22 Campus Round Winner Total Prize: $1,000 Cayla Easley and Tyler Sinclair, Space Pop App The Space Pop App is a marketplace that helps small startup retail entrepreneurs gain marketing and branding expertise, as well as providing them with a community of like-minded entrepreneurs. Clark Atlanta University MBA '22 Campus Round Winner Total Prize: $1,000 For more information about student opportunities with Blackstone LaunchPad or the CIED, please email the Program Manager, Thomas Clifton, at tclifton@cau.edu<mailto:tclifton@cau.edu>. Sandra M. Phoenix, Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance 678-210-5801 (office) 404-702-5854 (cell) http://www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> Seek justice, honor the ancestors, honor the children and those yet to come. Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/hbculibraryalliance1/ and Twitter at https://twitter.com/HBCULibAlliance Check out "PULSE!" The HBCU Library Alliance's News Source! - https://hbculibraryalliance.wordpress.com/