On The Money: OWU Students Win Business Start-Up Funds

By Cole Hatcher

One Ohio Wesleyan University student hopes to help clean the air of ammonia emissions from large animal farms. Another wants to cook up business success based on making and marketing healthy Greek-inspired foods.

Both budding Bishop entrepreneurs claimed $3,000 in start-up funds after winning separate “Shark Tank”-style pitch competitions held Feb. 27 by OWU’s Woltemade Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship.

An Ammonia ‘AirScrub’

Junior Inesh Tickoo of Delhi, India, claimed the grand prize in the Woltemade Big Problem Challenge, besting three competing concepts also seeking to make the world a better place. All of the Big Problem Challenge proposals considered how to improve the environment in response to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) created by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

For his solution, Tickoo, a double major in Computer Science and Business Administration (Marketing), proposed AirScrub, a company that would license and commercialize EcoScrub technology to reduce ammonia emissions (and, subsequently, respiratory risks) from large livestock farms.

AirScrub’s “wet-scrubbing technology” would capture up to 85% of ammonia emissions Tickoo explained, which would be converted into ammonium sulfate fertilizer to create a potential revenue stream to cover the cost of implementing the clean technology. Most current efforts to control ammonia emissions are focused on industry versus agriculture, he said, use more energy, and do not transform the ammonia into anything usable.

Feta Accompli

OWU senior Thomas Stathulis earns the top prize in The Woltemade Center’s Pitch OWU competition for Cephalonian Creations, a small business that will create and sell healthy dips and spreads inspired by Greek recipes.

Senior Thomas Stathulis of Westerville, Ohio, earned the top prize in The Woltemade Center’s Pitch OWU competition, also besting three other proposals to earn $3,000 in seed money to launch a new business.

A self-proclaimed foodie, Stathulis, a double major in Finance and Business Management (Management), proposed Cephalonian Creations, creating and selling healthy dips and spreads inspired by Greek recipes. (Cephalonia, or Kefalonia, is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece.)

“This is a passion project of my dad and mine,” said Stathulis, who also shares food-themed videos on TikTok.

He plans to begin the business with feta spread and a Greek-infused version of guacamole that he and his father, Stacey, will sell to local specialty stores and at central Ohio farmers’ markets.

From right, Glenn Entis, a 1976 OWU graduate, Marcus Hazelwood, and Gary Campanelli listen to presentations while judging the Big Problem Challenge and Pitch OWU entrepreneurship competitions.

As part of his Pitch OWU presentation, Stathulis served samples of both creations to the three-member panel of judges: Glenn Entis, OWU Class of 1976, senior director at Google DeepMind; Gary Campanelli, director of guidance for Hauppauge Public Schools in New York; and Marcus Hazelwood, principal and director of building optimization at EA Energy Solutions and an advisor for Global Network for Zero (GNFZ). The three evaluated the student presentations for both pitch competitions.

More Pitch OWU Proposals

In addition to Stathulis’s Cephalonian Creations, the other competitors selected to participate in the Pitch OWU competition, their ideas, and their awards included:

$1,500 recipient: Junior Kaye’Ann Muetzel-Smith, a Business Administration (Management) major from Grove City, Ohio, for GeoKey, “Find It First.” She proposed a system using geolocating technology to help car dealerships keep track of all vehicle keys in their inventory, and the ready-to-sell status of each vehicle, with GeoKey.
$750 recipient: Senior Tyler Duhl, a Psychology major from Arvada, Colorado, for Lotus – “Disconnect from Your Phone to Reconnect with Yourself.” Lotus is a smart device that works in tandem with a smartphone app to interrupt reflexive patterns of app use. It redirects the user’s attention away from the app that they are trying to access and provides them with an opportunity to make an intentional decision about how they want to use their time (and attention).
Gift card recipients: Seniors Kathy Habian, a Business Administration (Management) major from Medina, Ohio; Cooper Meek, an Economics major from Van Nuys, California; Kevin Fratz, a Finance major from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; and Jenna Norman, a Politics & Government and Economics double major from Wilmington, Ohio, for Spotless Stays. Their venture would provide quick-turn, reliable cleaning services for rental vacation properties to help central Ohio property owners improve guest satisfaction and accept more back-to-back bookings.

An Important Kickstart

All participants in the Woltemade Big Problem Challenge and the Pitch OWU competition also earned free admission to the upcoming Kickstart Ohio event featuring a keynote address from Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak. The state’s largest entrepreneurship conference, Kickstart Ohio will be held from March 24-26 in Columbus. It is organized by the Delaware Entrepreneurial Center at Ohio Wesleyan University – OWU’s on-campus business accelerator operated with support from the City of Delaware and Delaware County.

Learn more about The Woltemade Center at owu.edu/Woltemade, the Delaware Entrepreneurial Center at OWU at owu.edu/DEC, and Kickstart Ohio, including ticket purchases, at kickstartOhio.com.

Source: OWU; Photo: Ohio Wesleyan junior Inesh Tickoo presents his idea to capture and transform unhealthy ammonia emissions from animal farms into ammonium sulfate fertilizer. Tickoo earned $3,000 for winning the Big Problem Challenge sponsored by OWU’s Woltemade Center for Economics, Business and Entrepreneurship. (Photos by James DeCamp)