LaunchPad Announces 2026 Afropreneurship Competition Winners
Syracuse University Libraries’ LaunchPad awarded prizes to several student entrepreneur teams as part of its annual Afropreneurship Celebration and Pitch Competition held in Bird Library on Friday, February 6, 2026. The event included a panel discussion featuring student and alumni entrepreneurs, followed by a pitch competition open to student teams across campus. Students pitched in either the Concept/Idea Track, where participants delivered a 90-second pitch on their idea for a chance to win $250-$500, or Proof of Concept/Prototype/In-Market Track, where participants delivered a 4-minute business pitch and Question and Answer for a chance to win $1,000-$2,500.
Winning teams in the Concept Track were:
- Yuqian Di ’26 (School of Architecture), founder of ReBoot, won 1st place ($500). ReBoot is a specialized on-campus service to save students' winter boots from salt damage through professional restoration, extending the lifespan of expensive footwear.
- Yuxin Chen ’26 (School of Architecture), founder of PlateMap, placed 2nd and was awarded $250. PlateMap is a visual meal-mapping system that eliminates decision fatigue by aligning food planning with a user's actual schedule to make healthy, cost-effective eating effortless.
Winning teams in the In-Market Track were:
- Edouard Agbor G’26 (School of Information Studies), founder of GritGateway won 1st place ($2500). GritGateway is an ethical human-centered AI-powered global opportunity platform with active users across 20+ African countries that helps ambitious African students turn their life stories into verified profiles of grit, resilience and potential that universities can trust.
- Imaad Maqsood ’29 (College of Arts & Sciences), founder of Upstate Pressure won 2nd place ($1500). Upstate Pressure is a residential and commercial pressure washing service that restores and protects exterior surfaces such as concrete walkways, driveways, decks, siding, fences, patios and more.
- Dylan Bardsley ’26 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), founder of Clarity won 3rd Place ($750). Clarity is a transparent, AI-powered platform that instantly gives students clear, hyper-personalized credit card recommendations.
- Naheem Cadiz III ’28 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), founder of Coveted won 4th place ($250). Coveted is a mobile fashion marketplace app designed for independent and emerging clothing brands and the consumers who discover them.
This year’s Pitch Competition was sponsored in part by UmiVersity’s non-profit, The Audacious Dream, based in Pittsburgh, PA. Founder Phahsa Ras also lent his expertise to the judging panel for a third year in a row. “We are grateful to have developed such a phenomenal relationship with the UmiVersity Team,” said LaunchPad Director, Traci Geisler. “We are excited about our upcoming collaboration with UmiVersity in the NIL and data sovereignty space and are grateful that the team shares our commitment to experiential learning and passion for promoting student innovators.”