Feb 17, 2021.  Jade Perdue, a Senior Music Major, won the 2^nd Annual Own the Future (OtF) Pitch Competition, sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Institute in the Division of Business.  Her winning idea is NOLA Connect, an app that will assist musicians in creating music.

The OtF is a competition in which Xavier students present their business ideas to panels of judges.  Awards include prizes of $2,900 in addition to introductions to mentors who may assist the student entrepreneurs in refining and implementing their ideas.  “This is the second year for the OtF Pitch Competition and we received 3 times more entries this year than we did last year” said Mark Quinn, the Conrad N. Hilton Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship and the Director of the Entrepreneurship Institute.  He continued by saying “We’re building a culture of innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship on campus and the goal of this competition is to let the students know that we can help them with their businesses now, while they are students.”

Said Jade Perdue, “When I entered the competition I didn’t think I was going to become a finalist or even win. Then after seeing everyone else’s pitches and hearing their ideas, I knew for sure I was going to be 4th runner up. However, I didn’t let those negative thoughts stop me from participating. After winning the competition, I had to remind myself not to compare myself to anyone and focus on my gifts. I encourage anyone to take action even when you don’t believe in yourself.”

In addition to Jade, finalists in the OtF were:  Naomi Winston, a Senior History major, who’s developing an app that promotes Black empowerment; Asha Pierce, a Third Year Pharmacy student who owns Asha Pierce Photography; Deja Pierce, Camia Jones and Taylor McCutchen, all Pharmacy students whose idea is a clinic that will service low income patients; and Landan Moore, a Junior Sales and Marketing major whose idea is a clothing line for Gen X and millennials.  Congratulations to all finalists!

The OtF was made possible by the numerous business professionals who volunteered their talents and expertise as judges and mentors.  They include a number of Xavier graduates like Geoffrey Marshall, an Angel Investor; Hakeem Frank, a Data Scientist with Esri; Mike Scott, a SVP at Regions Bank; Jasmine Wise, Founder of Prosper Projects; and Monique Norfolk, Founder of Mosaic Beginnings.  Other volunteers were Mike Eckert, Chairman of the NOLA Angel Network; Julian Herbert, a Senior Technical Product Manager at Amazon; Ed Lada, President/CEO of Goodwill of Western Missouri and Eastern Kansas; Marjorae Ball, Economic Development Specialist and Reginald Harley, Export Finance Manager at the US Small Business Administration; real estate consultant Lydia Cutrer; Simone Spence, Founder/CEO of Athena Collects; Jasmine Brown, Public Policy Manager of GNO, Inc.; Earl Boyd, Founder of the 5 Step Business Program; and; Katherine Frilot, Business Development Officer at LiftFund.  Last but not least, Xavier faculty and staff who assisted were Dianne Sclafani and Erik Waters, Business Consultants at our own Louisiana Small Business Development Center located here on campus; and Syed Ahmed and Clifford Wright, both on the faculty in the Division of Business.