Business Expo and Pitch Competition Celebrates Entrepreneurship and Creativity

Joshua Hopson ’26 and his teammates noticed that during the pandemic, there was a dramatic increase in the use of subscription services. They also knew firsthand that managing these services wasn’t always easy.

That inspired them to create 365 Wallet, the company they developed and pitched as part of their “Introduction to Business and Entrepreneurship” class at the University. The company would provide a comprehensive and efficient financial and password management solution to help consumers manage their many subscriptions.

The team presented the idea for their company to the University community as part of the Pompea Business Plan Expo and Pitch Competition, earning honorable mention for their poster.

“My dad is an investor, and while I knew some things about business, I learned so much from this project,” said Hopson, a business analytics major. “I learned just how much work it takes to start a company.”

“We are learning to innovate and we got to see the work of other companies out there,” said Madi McDonough ’26, Hopson’s teammate and a fellow business analytics major. “This was eye-opening. I think this project will help me with my classes later on. It was a great overview.”

‘We worked well together’

The team was one of several that took part in the event held recently at the University’s Orange campus. Students presented their posters to the University community, giving an overview of their business, the problem they endeavored to address, and their revenue model. Top finishers included “Smart Park,” a parking service offering an easier way of finding parking on university campuses that captured first place; followed by “Simply Sources,” an alternative to ChatGPT; “YourMindSpace,” a mental health app; and “365 Wallet.”

Students of diverse majors who took “Introduction to Business and Entrepreneurship” collaborated to create and pitch the concept for a company. In the 10 semesters the course has been offered, approximately 1,200 students on more than 200 teams have gained hands-on experience developing their own business plans.

This semester, more than two dozen student teams from a variety of majors and academic colleges and schools presented the projects they developed on the theme of humans/machines and making life better. For Raphael Quezada ’26 and his teammates, their goal was to create a company that would make life easier for students with disabilities.

“We wanted to increase access to buildings and to create an app with access information,” explained Quezada, a business management major. “Developing a business depends on others and working together. You need to develop trust. I enjoyed this class, and it was a great way for us to learn from real-life examples.”

As part of the expo, six finalists competed in the pitch competition. “FaceIT,” which endeavored to address credit-card fraud, earned third place. “Shop n’ Go,” a company focused on making shopping carts more high-tech and efficient, took the second-place spot, and “Green Cycle,” a service that collects food waste from grocery stores and turns it into organic fertilizer, captured first place.

“This took a lot more effort than we’d expected, and we learned to pay a lot of attention to detail,” said Caitlin Daley ’26, a marketing major and a member of Team Green Cycle. “There were lots of things to consider. This was a great group, and we worked well together.”

‘The students get stronger and stronger’

The teams presented their companies to a panel of judges, who served as “investors,” as well as members of the University community. Charles E. Pompea '71, '90 EMBA, '06 Hon., for whom the competition is named in honor of, also joined virtually to watch the students’ pitches.

Four instructors taught “Introduction to Business and Entrepreneurship” during the semester, including Brian Marks, J.D., Ph.D., coordinator of the expo and the program. During the event, he announced he’s stepping down from his role overseeing the expo, and he “passed the bow tie” to fellow course instructor Vasiliki Kosmidou, Ph.D., an assistant professor of management and the University’s inaugural Smerd Family Professor in Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

“Each year the students get stronger and stronger,” said Dr. Marks, executive director of the University’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program. “Understanding the entrepreneurial mindset and application isn’t just important for business but for all aspects of life.”