Picture this: you’re front and center on the Wood’s Auditorium stage with spotlights glaring in your face. With a microphone in hand, you’re presenting your business idea to not just the five judges in front of you, but to a live audience of 250 people, with another 100 people watching online. You hope to inspire the investors in the crowd to sponsor you and your new dream business. You are also hoping to be the recipient of a black briefcase filled with crisp green bills — $2,000 in cash.
Seven aspiring entrepreneurs found themselves in this position on Saturday night, March 7. This business pitch event is a new one, created by a recently formed business club on campus called Elevate Enactus. (Alumni may remember SIFE: Students in Free Enterprise, the organization which has since rebranded as Enactus.) On Union’s campus, the Elevate Enactus club’s goal is to give students a chance to combine their business ideas and skills with their faith and show them to the world. Hosting a pitch competition was the perfect way to do so.
Emma Bermeo, a graduating senior, took this opportunity to present a business plan she has been working on for a little over a year. In her words, “Illume Studios is a creative agency that serves emerging Christian artists, turning verbal creativity into visual storytelling by enabling people to be moved by a moment they weren’t present for.” She plans to pack her bags and head to Nashville after graduation in hopes of helping young Christian artists on their music journey. Her pitch to a panel of well-qualified judges and business leaders won her the $2000 grand prize. After the event, Emma said, “I’m just excited to see where God takes me. At this point, I fully believe He has put me where I am now, because there are things that have happened that felt like they’ve fallen into my lap.”
Second and third place also received prize money. Yve Ellis Lahav plans to use her second-place prize to continue operating her service business of connecting Union students with needs in the Lincoln community, and third-place winners Matthew Pennhallurick and Jacob Orian hope to work with Union to add a smoothie stand in the Reiner Wellness Center.
Each of the other contestants had something special to share, and the organizers of Elevate Enactus hope to send two of the participants to a nationwide Adventist pitch competition this coming November. There, they will present their ideas alongside other collegiate and professional entrepreneurs. So watch out, world! Union’s business program is preparing to send students out to follow their dreams, and with a little extra cash in their pockets.
by Sami Hoffer, a junior biomedical science major from Minnesota