Ann Arbor, November 16, 2022 – The Michigan Business Challenge (MBC), a campus-wide, multi-round business plan competition has announced the eight teams advancing in its Seigle Impact Track.

Approximately 65 student teams submitted proposals for MBC, with 23 teams submitting for the Seigle Impact Track on Tues, Nov. 1. Teams advanced through Round One, which was held at the Ross School of Business on Monday, November 14, 2022. In the Seigle Impact Track, seventeen teams will now advance to Round Two, taking place on Friday, December 2, 2022. The semifinals will take place Friday, January 20, 2023, and the finals will be Friday, February 10, 2023.

Seventeen impact teams will advance from Round One to Round Two:

• Azarias – Enterprise resource management software for small nonprofits and insightful small nonprofit data provider for donors. Matt Martin, BSE ’22

• CliMates – A platform that educates Millennials & GenZ and facilitates investment/donations to green technology and projects in underserved countries. Akhila Kosaraju MDes’23, Chris Okumura BS’22,  Isha Goel MS Corporate Sustainability ‘22

• COLORSCOLLAB – a community festival featuring local artists/musicians and curated creative spaces that pull YOU in to participate – paint or sculpt your own pieces, learn about audio and lightning, envision the future of your city! Anna Lam, MBA/MURP ’23

• e3 – a holistic chrome extension that bridges the information gap to allow consumers to conveniently identify more sustainable choices by scanning and scoring clothing product pages on their environmental impact and providing recommendations for alternative eco-friendly items. Joshua Glynn, BBA ’24; Manal Shaikh, BBA ’24; Alexander Bower, BBA ’24; Saavan Kaneria, BBA ’24; Sena Kaddurah, BBA ’24; Lucas Coman, BBA ’24

• FUSE – a one-stop financial empowerment hub for refugees that allows asylum seekers to open a bank account without a social security number, build credit, access financial orientation resources, professional development opportunities, local coupons, and manage their government cash assistance in any language they speak. Margarethe Steinhaus, MPP ’23; Christian Neubacher, MPP ’23

• G2G: Grow Together – a wealth-building platform that uses financial planning, learning modules, and a community forum to support individuals experiencing life hardships (i.e., caregiving/infertility/life-threatening ailment/divorce). Yasmin Abdulhadi, MBA ‘23; Bridgit Jung, LSA ’24

• International Footprint – a global comprehensive toolkit that provides access to mindfully translated information about legal policies, including visas, taxes, and healthcare, for international students and workers. Yeonkyoung No, BBA & BA PPE ’25; Dan Atlman, BSE Mechanical Eng ’24; Gyu Been Moon, BA Political Science & BA Korean Literature and Culture ’24; Justin Park, BA Cognitive Science ’22

• Kinetic – an energy harvesting floor tile that can generate electricity from footsteps. We make renewable energy more accessible one step at a time. Tirth Patel, MBA ‘24; Pooja Saran, MBA ‘24

• LexoFin – a Web3 platform that translates financial terminology on the fly to make the world of finance & investing accessible to everyone. Bryant Burciaga, MBA ’24

• LumeSolar – a residential and commercial solar panel installation and distribution firm. Fredy Rosado, BBA ’25; Korey Zelda, BS Econ ’24

• Nexeus – a Solutions R&D ecosystem for State and local governments to leverage emerging technology to create solutions for Societal and Humanitarian concerns. Toinu Reeves, PHD Candidate Economics ’24

• PILs Ventures – Building the platform to help close the generational health-and-wealth gap. George Okpamen, MBA ’23

• SeaSpider – Aiming  to improve the identification of abandoned fishing nets in sensitive coral reefs in order to allow conservation organizations to remove abandoned fishing nets that kill wildlife and destroy coral reefs. Joe Huang, CS ’22; Adam Zhang, BS Environment  ’23

• Solar Fridge – working to develop an inexpensive, solar-powered energy independent, and low-maintenance vaccine refrigerator to ensure vaccine availability and viability in low-resource communities. Thomas Chen, BS ’23; Ryan Fang, BS ’25; Avani Govindswamy, BSE ’24; Gabriel Ferriero, BSE ’25; Alan Shi, BSE ’24; Cara Gallagher, BSE ’25; Aham Lee, BSE ’23; Ryan Hamby, BSE ’22; Carina Gallagher, BSE ’23; Nancy Chen, BSE ’23; Allison Lee, BSI ’24; Thiago Reis, BSE ’24; Paola Zavala, BSE ’25; Eldon Xu, BSE ’23

• The Cookout – an immersive experience of performances, activities, and food to highlight and uplift the diversely rich communities on a college campus. Maria Fields, BSE ’24

• Unavigate – College connection service that allows high school students to communicate with college students and ask questions regarding their school/major. Yash Singhvi, BBA’26; Esha Patel BS(Econ)’26; Rikhil Sankati BBA ‘26

• Ways to Future – Collect food scraps from dining halls, convert them into animal feeds, and sell back to local farms. Lanzhao Cheng, MS’24, Hejing Hu, MS’24, Dawei Liu, MS’24, Langheng Pan, MS’24

The seventeen enterprises feature multidisciplinary student teams from the fields of Engineering, Economics, Sustainability, Cognitive Science, Computer Science, Public Policy, Urban Planning, Design, and Business. Additionally, 8 teams are advancing in the Invention Track, and 20 teams are advancing in the Innovation Track.

The Michigan Business Challenge (MBC) is a campus-wide, multi-round business plan competition where student businesses have the opportunity to win cash prizes totaling over $100,000, gain feedback from leaders in the business community, and expand their business network. The Seigle Impact Track is sponsored by the Mark and Robin Seigle Entrepreneurial Innovation Fund and co-managed by Business+Impact at Michigan Ross, the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise, and the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies.