The NIACC John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center hosted the second annual Iowa Student Entrepreneurship Summit on April 11-12 in Mason City and Clear Lake. The event brought together business majors and student entrepreneurs from Iowa’s community colleges, private colleges and the University of Northern Iowa. The Student Entrepreneurship Summit included a student pitch competition followed by a day of interactive workshops designed to support personal growth, leadership development and entrepreneurial thinking. The Iowa Student Entrepreneurship Summit is the official pathway to the Pappajohn Student Venture Competition, where students pitch real business ideas for funding and advancement to the finals. Eight students from NIACC, Drake University and the University of Northern Iowa participated in the Summit Pitch Competition. Six students from NIACC and Drake each won a $500 finalist prize and will advance to the Pappajohn Student Venture Competition:
- Josh Hanson – American Rustguard (NIACC)
- Caleb Renner – Renner Ag Solutions (NIACC)
- Christopher Madsen with partners David Roman and Ethan Kudej – Blast Off Power Washers (NIACC)
- Dorian Boyland – IonFlow (Drake)
- Gabe Howard – Nautilus Dynamics (Drake)
- Diego Munoz – Valor Storage (Drake)
Karleen Roberts with Karl-Bean’s Coffee and Holden Mathis with Mathis Speed Shop also each received $250. The Summit was hosted by the NIACC John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center in partnership with the Great Plains Entrepreneurial Consortium, a group of private colleges and universities working together and sharing resources to scale and infuse an entrepreneurial mindset to foster entrepreneurship education, economic expansion and job creation in technology-focused economic development.