Master Member Jack Soper hosted the second annual EEC Immersion Week held the week of August 10-15 on the John Carroll campus.  Students from the “seven sisters” participated in a week long program to identify winners judged to have the best idea for a new business, product, or service. Hand picked 5-person teams were selected by the Chairs in Entrepreneurship from among the participating schools. The sister schools are: Ashland University, Baldwin-Wallace College, Cleveland State University, John Carroll University, Kent State University, Case Western University and the University of Akron.

The classes are taught by the Chairs from each school, with an all star group of guest speakers from a variety of disciplines including: Venture Capital, Angel Investors, Ethicists, Sustainability coaches, and local entrepreneurs.  The keynote address was given by our own Master Member, Jack Kahl. He used Jim Collin’s advice in his talk, defining entrepreneurship as: “True Humility” coupled with “A Ferocious Will to Win”.

As reported in the Plain Dealer the day after the event, the winning team this year was again from Case.  This followed up their win last year with Fresh Fork Market, a business that recently launched!  To read the Plain Dealer article, Click Here.

The John Carroll team of Dany Diaz Mejia, Brendan Knoblauch, Jessica Ilacqua, Joshua  Marcin, and Taylor  Burton finished a close second, winning $2,000.  Their company: Green Bridge, is an online network that connects consumers to businesses that are already in the business of providing environmentally friendly products and services by leveraging their mailing lists.  They have already found a champion.  Holly Harlan, President of Entrepreneurs 4 Sustainability, liked their idea so much that she has offered to help them get the company started! Jack Soper is going to gather the team together again shortly after classes begin to start the process of encouraging them to launch their business.

From left to right: Mark Hauserman, Taylor Burton, Jessica Ilacqua, Dr. Jack Soper,
Brendan Knoblauch, Josh Marcin & Dany Diaz

Congratulations to these great emerging entrepreneurs!