Students from Calvin University took home a variety of prizes at Wednesday’s annual MWest Challenge. MWest is a consortium of local colleges and universities who seek to enhance business and economic culture through educational, occupational, and entrepreneurial efforts. The MWest Challenge—their annual business pitch competition—includes pitches to a panel of judges along with poster presentations.
Pitch Competition
Theo Perumel, Naomi Ross, and Braden Lint won first place for their Wanderlust app focused on helping college students find hotels with policies allowing 18-21-year-old guests. They received $3,000.
Peter Olson placed third for do-it-yourself climbing shoe repair company Rock On Patches. He received $1,250.
Poster Showcase
Cam Lockery placed first with his app, Kickback, which connects homeowners who need a job done around the house (yard work, pressure washing, etc.) with people in the area looking for side work.
Clive Amoh placed third with Tutors Hub which is a program built to provide a structure for universities to offer tutoring to interested students.
“Solving a problem is at the heart of entrepreneurship,” said Jon Verlee, entrepreneur in residence at Calvin University and director of the Calvin Startup Garage. “The results of the MWest Challenge reflect the significant research, development, and refinement of ideas by our students. The quality of pitches from Calvin students represents the strong entrepreneurial culture that’s being cultivated through academics and co-curricular experiences.”
Calvin students represented a variety of majors including accounting, computer science, entrepreneurship, financial planning, marketing, nursing, and operations and supply chain management.
Contact Jon Verlee at jon.verlee@calvin.edu to learn more about participating in next year’s MWest Challenge.