iBucs Competition winners

JOHNSON CITY (April 26, 2018) – Winning business pitches by innovative students at East Tennessee State University were awarded cash prizes at the second annual iBucs Competition presented by the College of Business and Technology.

Darack Nanto, a graduate student from Togo West Africa studying engineering technology, won first place for his presentation of the Eco-Smart Can. Nanto invented the smart trashcan to optimize waste collection and save resources. He will receive $5,000 to help jumpstart his business.

The second place prize of $3,000 was awarded to Aaron Barlow, a computing student from Maryville. Barlow is developing a customer relationship management (CRM) system for Homeowner’s Associations called HOA Center.

A pair of entrepreneurs, Ryan Woodzell and Brandon Weirick, received the third place prize of $2,000 to fund their mental health app Meant2Heal. Woodzell of Hot Springs, Virginia, is studying to become a clinical mental health counselor. Weirick, from Bloomington, Indiana, is an MBA student at ETSU.

Students who entered the iBucs Competition pitched their business ideas to a panel of judges consisting of professionals, ETSU faculty and entrepreneurs. In order to qualify to present a pitch, each team was required to submit an executive summary, a feasibility analysis and business plan for any type of idea or concept they would like to bring to reality. The competition was open to students across the university.

“We continue to see students who have great ideas, but wonder what to do next,” said Stephen Hendrix, co-organizer of the iBucs competition and instructor in ETSU’s Department of Computing. “We started thinking about how we could help students push their idea forward with a business plan, so we created a platform to present ideas.”

For more information about iBucs, contact competition organizers Stephen Hendrix at hendrixs@etsu.edu or Bill McTier at mctier@etsu.edu.