Grove City College graduate Karolina Lagerquist ’16 won third place in the 4th annual OH-Penn for Business Competition coordinated by the eCenter@LindenPointe.
This annual event gives undergraduate students from Pennsylvania and Ohio the opportunity to develop and present their business ideas outside of the traditional classroom setting in front of a panel of seven judges. The final round of competition was held last month at the eCenter@LindenPointe, Hermitage, Pa.
Lagerquist – an entrepreneurship major from Pittsburgh, Pa., who graduated May 14 – made her sales pitch for the startup idea Kinbox, which uses technology to help nursing home residents keep in contact more regularly with their families. She won a $500 cash prize for seed money and a three-month summer entrepreneurship bootcamp/incubation deal at eCenter@LindenPointe, which will give her access to office space, help with business development, mentoring and networking opportunities.
“We are so incredibly proud of Karolina for the work that she has done on Kinbox over the past couple of years. Having refined the startup's business model in her classes, GCC Venturelab, and by participating in several competitions, she is now ready to launch a business that will change lives for the better by helping nursing home residents to vastly improve their quality of life. The world needs Kinbox, and Karolina is the perfect person to make it happen,” said Yvonne English, executive director of Grove City College’s Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation.
Over 100 applicants from five colleges applied for the competition but only seven individuals and teams – four of them from Grove City College – were selected as finalists. Other winners were Team Oratio from Drexel University (first place) and Team Volta from Allegheny College (second place.)