Business

JWU North Miami Students Showcase Their Business Concepts at Sharkfest

JWU Media
27 February 2020

JWU North Miami President Larry Rice, Professor Brent Muckridge, and Sharkfest winner Angelique Davis

JWU North Miami’s annual Sharkfest offers a singular opportunity for business students to showcase their entrepreneurial ideas. At this year’s Sharkfest, 8 projects were pitched to a live audience in the Wildcat Center – and the top 3 concepts received a total of $17,500 to bring their projects to fruition.

“This year’s SharkFest competition was our toughest competition, with a diverse set of entrepreneurs,” explained Professor Brent Muckridge. Muckridge oversees the College of Business’ eLab, which provides extensive mentorship support to participants as they refine their pitches and practice for the intense competition. Support and funding was also provided by JWU North Miami alum Mike Rypka ’96, the founder of Torchy’s Tacos (Austin, Texas).

Projects were judged on the following 5 qualities:

Originality and clarity of their idea
Viability, practicality and attractiveness for investment
Ability of the entrepreneur or team to execute the concept
Effectiveness of the pitch presentation
Overall impression of the business idea

The Winning Pitches
This year’s winning concepts included two full service food businesses and one sports-focused training academy.

First place — and $10,000 in seed money — went to Food & Beverage Entrepreneurship major Angelique Davis for her custom cake shop concept, Design a Delight, which specializes in cupcake bouquets. “Customers have control over not only the design but the complete flavor profile.”

Second place ($5,000) went to Premier Sports Bar & Grill, a full service sports bar concept featuring an outdoor lounge and an indoor eSports lounge. With his concept, Sports, Entertainment, Event — Management (SEEM) major Hunter Colburn is aiming to “to innovate the sports bar industry and create an amazing culture change in Kissimmee, Florida.” (Colburn has staked out a location in close proximity to both Walt Disney World and Margaritaville Orlando.)

The third place ($2,500) concept was created by two SEEM majors, Bevan Baker and David Tejeda. Their Top Notch Training Academy provides training services to athletes: “We want to further develop their individual skills and to instill TNTA’s 3 pillars for success: Leadership, Preparation, and Diligence. Initially, our services will be soccer specific but we envision expanding to basketball, football, etc.”

“Sharkfest taught me to be persistent and determined,” said Davis after her win. “Understanding that not all investors will understand or support your product and standing up and trying again will pay off in the end. Thank you to Professor Muckridge for pushing me to try again even when I didn't believe in myself.”

For his part, Muckridge was extremely proud of all of the competitors — and particularly excited by the strength and breadth of the pitches: “All of the entrepreneurs, especially the winners, have set the bar even higher for SharkFest 2021.”

Emmanuel Cabrera Muñoz contributed to this story.