This April, a DePaul-led team of students won Campus1871, an annual competition in which teams create a viable business model and design for a potential startup company that would solve a meaningful problem in today's world. (Image courtesy of Abigail Ingram)
Last weekend, a DePaul student-led team won the annual
Campus1871 competition hosted by 1871, Chicago's prestigious entrepreneurial technology hub.
Badar al Lawati and Redar Ismail, who led the team, are members of the
Coleman Entrepreneurship Center​'s collaboration with the Founder Institute's accelerator program. Their project provided a connection for refugees and immigrants with specific skill sets - such as medical and programming skills - to job opportunities upon arriving in the United States. Other Blue Demons on the team include MS students James Valles and Aramida Kehinde.
The team's business model and pitch took first place over teams from the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Loyola University and other universities from the Chicagoland area. Following their victory, the students will continue working and developing their project in the Founder Institute accelerator program and the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center.
Campus 1871 encourages teams to create a viable business model and design for a potential startup company that would solve a meaningful problem in today's world. For one weekend a year, 1871 brings together more than 100 students from local universities to share ideas, collaborate and build an original startup business plan with mentoring and coaching from 1871 entrepreneurs. The weekend concludes with a pitch competition for assorted prizes before a panel of top leaders in Chicago's tech community.