DENVER, Feb. 19, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO)—a global network that connects 13,500+ business owners in more than 50 countries—has named Daniela Blanco, a second-year PhD student at NYU Tandon School for Engineering at NYU winner of the 2019 Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) U.S. National Finals for her company, Sunthetics, which uses solar-powered energy to offer a cost-effective chemical path to manufacture sustainable nylon.
An EO program, GSEA is the premier global competition for students who own and operate a for-profit business while attending college. The national competition took place January 10th and 11th at the Auraria Campus in Denver. Throughout the stages of the competition, 38 members of various EO chapters served as judges, looking for originality and leadership skills, as well as a successful business model and sales.
Blanco's national triumph was preceded by her first place win at the New York City Regional GSEA event held November 9, 2018. As the national winner, Blanco received a $10,000 cash prize and will attend the GSEA global finals in Macau, China in April to represent the U.S. in competing against the top student entrepreneurs from around the world. The winner of the global finals will be named the EO Global Student Entrepreneur of the Year and will receive a $25,000 cash prize, as well as invaluable in-kind business services provided by EO members.
"GSEA has been an incredibly touching and inspiring experience. It is unique as I get to know entrepreneurs personally, understanding their real values, challenges and aspirations," said Blanco. "Winning the US Nationals is very exciting, and I feel honored to represent the country that opened its doors to me and has become my home. I am grateful for the opportunity to proudly represent the minds and hearts of the entrepreneurs that are being formed in the US, a country that shows us that there are no limits to what we can accomplish."
Reyanne Mustafa, a student at San Diego State University and founder and CEO of SOULMUCH, received second place. Blanco and Mustafa were two of 30 students who qualified to compete in U.S. National Competition. All national finalists are listed below:
Kwaku Agyemang - Brownmill Company
Kyrah Altman - Let's Empower, Advocate, and Do, Inc. (LEAD)
Jacob Becraft - Strand Therapeutics
Daniela Blanco - Sunthetics
Jonas Buxton- Delta Tech
Jake Copeland - Surf Media Inc.
Prince Ghosh - Boundary Labs
Mason Gravley - CampCrate
Raghav Gupta - Gratis Food
Courtney Haun - Snippety Snap, LLC
Neha Husein - Just Drive
Hannah King - Woven Futures
Koby Lomax - Ardent Candle Company
Gavin Lynch - SlapEyewear LLC
Brianna Makaric - BRITE bites
Chris Maurice - Yellow Card Financial
Aaron Morales - A.M. Productions
Reyanne Mustafa - SOULMUCH
Vedha Nayak - Behen
Nathan Neeley - Rubi
Siddharth Pandiya - Logos (operating under DBA of Sike)
Mandeep Patel - SuNi
Sarah Beth Perry - With the Band
Katarina Samardzija - Locker Lifestyle
Peter Schultze - Plyo, Inc.
Joshua Shefner - Blue Mangoes
Evan Sledge - Sledge Outfitters
Benjamin Steinhorn - ShoeBio Inc.
Thiru Vikram - Buffalo Automation
Yang Zheng - Oxalo Therapeutics
To qualify as a U.S. National finalist, students had to earn first place in their local GSEA competitions.
Competition guidelines required that applicants be actively enrolled as an undergraduate at a
recognized college or university. The applicants' businesses must be structured as for-profit or social enterprise, been in operation for at least six months, and have generated at least $500 in revenue or received $1,000 in investments at the time of application.
# # #
About GSEA:
The Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) is the premier global competition for students who own and operate a for-profit and/or social enterprise structured business while attending a college or university. Nominees compete against their peers from around the world in a series of local and/or national competitions in hopes to qualify for GSEA Finals. Founded in 1998 by Saint Louis University, GSEA is now an Entrepreneurs' Organization program. To learn more, visit gsea.org.
About Entrepreneurs' Organization:
The Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) is a global business network of more than 13,500 business owners in 185 chapters and 58 countries. Founded in 1987 by a group of young entrepreneurs, EO enables small and large business owners to learn from each other, leading to greater business success and an enriched personal life. The organization's vision is to build the world's most influential community of entrepreneurs, which aligns with its mission of supporting entrepreneurial education and engaging entrepreneurs to learn and grow. For more information, visit eonetwork.org.
SOURCE Entrepreneurs’ Organization
Share this article