Although the innovative ideas of Beamlak Petros ’26 so far have landed her in the top three spots of entrepreneurship competitions at the University of St. Thomas, March 1 was her day to shine. On that day, Petros won the Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge (Fowler GSIC) Campus Finals in the morning and the undergraduate student track of the St. Thomas Business Plan Competition in the afternoon.
Petros received $16,000 for winning both competitions with Waste Compo, a concept aiming to alleviate two issues pressing on Ethiopian society – hunger and shortage of fertilizer. Breaking away from old perceptions, the project offers a pioneering approach to garbage collection by reducing food waste and growing the potential for food production.
“I learned to advance my confidence (by participating in the competitions),” Petros said. “(I have improved) the ability to speak my opinion in front of a lot of different people and express my ideas in front of people without any hesitation.”
Petros, along with the second-place winner in the Fowler GSIC Campus Finals, Maria Magambo, will travel to the University of San Diego in June to present at the Fowler GSIC Global Finals. The Fowler GSIC is named in recognition of Ron Fowler ’66, chairman and CEO of Liquid Investments Inc., whose gifts to the university have made the competition possible.
“The quality of the ideas and the types of ideas that are being moved forward are just so inspirational,” Schulze School of Entrepreneurship Associate Dean Danielle Campeau said. “It’s an amazing networking opportunity for the students in addition to the cash prizes that they won.”
With separate divisions for undergraduate students and graduate students/recent alumni, the St. Thomas Business Plan Competition provides seed funding and mentoring for Tommiepreneurs looking to start a new business, with winners of each division receiving $10,000.
Safe 6 won first place in the graduate student/recent alumni track for an app to help individuals who have cystic fibrosis, for whom loneliness and isolation can be a big challenge. In danger of contracting bacteria from others who share the illness, they must always remain 6 feet apart. Classmates Bethaney Kaye, Kerry Brockberg, Ky McCracken, Crystal Brown and GiGi Giordano, all enrolled in the Health Care MBA at the Opus College of Business, imagine a better future possible. Their social distancing app, Safe 6, uses geolocation to notify individuals when they need to retain distance. Their creativity could make it easier for people living with the disease to live social lives without fear of illness.
Safe 6 started as a class project and evolved from there.
The team consists of employed professionals from the Twin Cities area, brought together by their passion for health care and desire to develop their business skills.
“We want to help folks with cystic fibrosis live healthier and more fulfilled lives,” Giordano said.
Thanks to the St. Thomas Business Plan Competition, they now have $10,000 to help them reach that goal.
“It’s also about building confidence. The ability to present and push forward your ideas and push past that fear and talk in front of large audiences. It's hard,” Campeau said regarding the student competitions. “It’s something that takes a lot of courage in the students to get up and to put themselves out there to be vulnerable,” she said.
Business competitions at the University of St. Thomas have seen increased participation from students majoring in the arts and sciences. In total, the students competing March 1 represented 22 different majors.
“Everybody can be innovative, and it's through competitions like this that they can see that potential,” Campeau said.
Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge Awards:
- First place ($6,000): Waste Compo – Beamlak Petros. A pioneering approach to large-scale waste collection in Ethiopia, breaking away from traditional perceptions about waste collection jobs. This innovative initiative offers a dual benefit that goes beyond waste reduction – it actively addresses the pressing issues of hunger and the shortage of fertilizer.
- Second place ($3,000): Kallisto Pads – Maria Magambo. Kallisto Pads is a Tanzanian brand of biodegradable and flushable menstrual products that allows women and girls to be more liberated during their period. By eliminating the need to burn or dispose of plastic sanitary pads, Kallisto Pads will improve the menstrual waste management system and eventually lessen air and land pollution in the environment.
- Third place ($1,500): Soul Shoes – Natalie Larson and Noah MacDonald. Soul Shoes proposes to diversify the shoe market by pioneering a unique innovation, introducing interchangeable soles and upper parts crafted from recycled materials that serves the purpose of increasing longevity and creating a design appeal.
- Fourth place ($1,000): Mentor Me – Arsenio Black and Junior Agbenowossi. An app that provides low-income students with mentorship.
- Fifth place ($500): Culture ED – Smriti Datta and Amelia Ehlers. A project redefining DEI training for K-12 educators, offering a gamified and engaging simulation that ensures every student, regardless of culture, learning background, or gender identity, feels welcome in the classroom.
St. Thomas Business Plan Competition Awards:
Undergraduate Student Track Finalists:
- First place ($10,000): Waste Compo – Beamlak Petros. A pioneering approach to large-scale waste collection in Ethiopia, breaking away from traditional perceptions about waste collection jobs. This innovative initiative offers a dual benefit that goes beyond waste reduction – it actively addresses the pressing issues of hunger and the shortage of fertilizer.
- Second place ($5,000): Open Door Code – Maria Johnson. An introductory coding tool that empowers young creators by making learning fun, interactive and accessible. By bringing the world of coding from the screen to their hands, Open Door Code gives middle-school students a tactile alternative to traditional beginner coding software.
- Third place ($2,500): CafeTemp Control Stick – Liam Honl and Dhruv Bhinde. This sleek, portable stick, designed by CaféTech Innovations, allows you to heat or cool your coffee with a simple twist. Powered by an innovative thermoheatium core, it ensures your coffee is always at the perfect temperature, eliminating the need for reheating or waiting for it to cool.
- Fourth place ($1,000): Soul Shoes – Natalie Larson and Noah MacDonald. Soul Shoes proposes to diversify the shoe market by pioneering a unique innovation, introducing interchangeable soles and upper parts crafted from recycled materials that serves the purpose of increasing longevity and creating a design appeal.
- Fifth place ($500): SafeNetAI – Melissa Rajamanuvel. SafeNetAI is a cybersecurity start-up that offers an AI-powered virtual private network (VPN) service. The company’s innovative approach predicts and prevents cyberattacks based on user behavior, providing a more secure and personalized internet experience for small start-up businesses and individual users.
Graduate Student/Recent Alumni Track Finalists:
- First place ($10,000): Safe 6 – Bethaney Kaye, GiGi Giordano, Ky McCracken, Kerry Brockberg and Crystal Brown. A unique social distancing app that transforms safety, well-being and community support for individuals living with cystic fibrosis (CF). In the CF community, adhering to the gold standard of care means keeping a 6-foot distance between individuals living with CF. Leveraging cutting-edge geolocation technology, Safe 6 notifies a person living with CF when they come into high-risk proximity with others living with CF.
- Second place ($5,000): ShadowHealth – Austin Murr. ShadowHealth makes it easy to explore health care careers by connecting you with practicing clinicians to shadow.
- Third place ($2,500): Tarps Off Jersey Rental – Noah Beer. Tarps Off Jersey Rental offers single-game jersey rental services tailored for fans attending Minnesota Wild hockey games.
- Fourth place ($1,000): Bluenest Connect – Israel Tolu. A project providing specialized tech support and educational services tailored for older adults, helping them safely and confidently use technology. Our mission is to empower seniors to stay connected and protected in the digital age, ensuring they have the necessary skills and support to thrive in a tech-centric world.
- Fifth place ($500): GroupCard – Abenezer Ayana. A fintech platform that allows users to issue shared virtual cards that make group payments frictionless, flexible and rewarding.
