Fifteen Student Startups Win 2019 Entrepreneurial Awards

By Karen Guzman

Fifteen Yale School of Management student startups are the recipients of this year’s Yale SOM Donor-Funded Entrepreneurial Awards.

Sponsored by Yale SOM alumni, the awards provide financial grants that allow entrepreneurs to work on new ventures over the summer. A panel of 14 Yale alumni, including entrepreneurs, innovators, and investors, pick the winners. The annual awards total approximately $100,000.

This year’s eclectic ventures are diverse. They include a sustainable electric power train systems for trucks; a recruitment service for young workers without college degrees; and prepared meals featuring plant-based meat.

“For many students pursuing entrepreneurship, even a small amount of funding can go a long way as the work to get their ventures off the ground,” said Jennifer McFadden, associate director of entrepreneurial programs and lecturer in the practice of entrepreneurship.

“Summer is the perfect time for students who are participating in full-time degree programs to be able to fully focus on their ventures and validate their early-stage hypotheses,” McFadden said. “We are grateful to the alumni who provide funding and who help select recipients."

Nancy Pfund ’82 funds the Nancy Pfund ’82 Social Impact Award, which supports first-year students pursuing summer internships at mission-driven, social sector organizations—including their own startups—with double bottom lines.

“I am excited to support the Yale Entrepreneurial Awards,” Pfund said. “Bringing an impact lens to entrepreneurship adds the important dimensions of social purpose, environmental stewardship, and economic opportunity. Funding internships allows Yale to shape the next generation of entrepreneurship, whose scope will go far beyond the traditional Silicon Valley model and increasingly embrace a ‘double bottom line’ focus.”

Fuad El-Hibri ’82 funds the Fuad El-Hibri ’82 Entrepreneurial Award, which provides summer internship funding for first-year students, new venture seed financing for second-year students, and funding for students joining early-stage startups.

“These creative award recipients represent the entrepreneurial spirit that is alive and well at Yale SOM,” El-Hibri said. “Providing some assistance with seed funding is an honor that allows me to help young entrepreneurs whose ventures embody SOM’s mission of serving both business and society. We were energized by the innovative business ideas proposed by many of the applicants.”