Olutosin Alabi G’25 Wins 3rd Annual Afropreneurship Competition
Syracuse University Libraries’ Blackstone LaunchPad hosted the 3rd annual Afropreneurship Panel, Networking and Pitch competition in Bird Library on February 9, 2024 in celebration of Black History Month. The competition was organized by Motolani Oladitan ’24 (College of Arts and Science) and Brandon Henry ’24 (College of Arts and Sciences) with support from other Blackstone LaunchPad student employees and founders. Olutosin “Tosin” Alabi G’25 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management) won first place in the 90-second pitch competition with her proposed health tech startup, DiabeTech Nexus, a sensor-detecting diabetes wound bandage. Mariah Brown ’26 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management) won second place with Dormbank, a proposed reseller of college dorm items like appliances and small electronics. Third place winner Justin Diaz ’24 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management) is founder of Eco Bamboo Living, a company that would create tiny homes made of bamboo for more sustainable living.
Judges for the pitch competition also spoke to students during a panel discussion on being an innovator, entrepreneur and creative of color. Panelists/judges were:
- Brianna Howard G’21: Founder of Faithful Works, which offers virtual assistant and grant consulting services to nonprofits, small business owners and startup companies.
- Derrell Smith ’10: Retired NFL player turned chef and founder of a meatball company named Amazeballs. Smith has cooked on stages around the world and stars in his own TV show on Tastemade.
- Damaris “Koi” Munyua G’22: Founder of the marketing agency Koi and Company, which specializes in copywriting, graphic and website design.
- Ana Catalina Rodriguez Botello: A diversity and social impact professional with a Master’s Degree in Public and Social Policy from Universitat Pompeu Fabra and a LEAD Certificate from Stanford University. She currently serves as the Global Social Impact Sr. Manager at Marsh McLennan.
- Phahsa Ras: Co-founder of UMi, the world’s first ‘Conscious Attention Economy,’ capitalizing on the impact of emergent technologies, such as generative AI, on jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities.
- Kofi Addai: Associate Director of Stop Bias Education in the Syracuse University Office of Community Standards.
About Syracuse University Libraries’ Blackstone LaunchPad
The Blackstone LaunchPad is Syracuse University’s innovation hub, connecting the campus resource-rich ecosystem with a global network that provides support for aspiring entrepreneurs, inventors and creators. The program serves faculty, staff, students and recent alumni across all disciplines who are interested in entrepreneurship, venture creation and innovation careers. The program supports a key pillar of Syracuse University’s academic strategic plan to give students experiential opportunities that help prepare them to be trailblazers in an entrepreneurial world.