We were proud to show off some Innovation LLC talent at the Cozad New Venture Competition this past semester. At Innovation LLC we are surrounded by creative students who are passionate about ideas and entrepreneurship. We had the opportunity to see our students turn this passion into competitive marketable businesses as they participated in the Cozad Competition.

Three Innovation teams entered the new venture competition. They faced 80 other teams, many including upperclassmen and graduate students.  Each of our three teams moved on to the written round of competition. Ben Ng’s Toolkitt and Janna Eaves and Supriya Hobb’s SuperGirl Inc made it to the final round.

Ben Ng's business Toolkitt is an online portfolio builder for creative professionals. Janna Eaves and Supriya Hobbs's company SuperGirl Inc is focused on creating educational toys for girls that will give girls strong female role models. Our finalists walked away with many prizes including: the Adobe Suite, Business and Law consulting and much more to help them continue to build their companies.

We have had the opportunity to watch these students and their businesses grow throughout the year.  Both teams have taken advantage of the Innovation community to seek advice and support throughout the competition.  The teams worked on their presentations with  Innovation Program Specialist, Jennifer Bechtel.  They also gained an enormous amount of support from the community.  SuperGirl Inc and Toolkitt were both student-nominated as “Best Startup in the Community”.  We are very proud of our Innovation teams, and we are excited to follow each team’s progress beyond the competition.