Super humbled and super proud (can I put those two together?). Yesterday, we tied the bow on a packed summer of experiential learning, new challenges, new connections, new friendships, a couple minor injuries...and GROWTH.
Ultimately, the Summer Business Innovation Boot Camp was built with a simple thought in mind.
Let’s smash together learning experiences, mentors, local industry, and students…bake for 7wks and see what pops out.
What popped out yesterday was three student consulting teams presenting fantastic final deliverables to the ventures/organizations they were paired with.
⭐ In-depth economic development benchmarking reports.
⭐ Door-to-door sales/customer discovery results.
⭐ Customer persona mapping and marketing/branding kits.
But that’s not all.
Check out some additional highlights from the past 7wks:
✔ 1,200hrs+ work delivered for local ventures/organizations
✔ $976 of lemonade sold in 1.5hrs (yes, there’s a bigger story to this one)
✔ 70 mentoring/coaching/training sessions
✔ 32 mentors/coaches/speakers
✔ 9 “Hillympics” challenges throughout summer (shout out to Team Blazer for taking home the gold!!)
✔ 5 new venture ideas created and pitched
✔ 4 new internship opportunities post program and counting
✔ 3 world-class ventures/organizations paired with student consulting teams
✔ 1 incredibly transformational summer
I am sincerely proud of what each student team dug in and delivered in such a compressed timeline. I’d hire any one of them, and it seems like I’m not the only one thinking that.
Now, a few big thank-yous are in order.
1) To the core team and dedicated coaches who made this come to life:
Anne Silliman, Mary (Mazi) Aarts, Rachel Morris, Eric Cooperman, Les Knight, Ethan Foulkes, Sarah Waylett
2) To the founders/CEOs who took a chance with us on this journey:
Daniel Dye, John Barnett – Supermoon // Samuel Konduros and Cameron Campbell – Greenville City Economic Development Corporation // Lindsey Calcutt, PhD – Incora Health
3) To the South Carolina Department of Commerce and the #relentlesschallengegrant for helping us fuel this rocket ship experience! Julie Kunkle, Nancy Conwell, Casi Sims
Let’s keep building together 💪
Caroline Beardall, Lilia Bellahcen Marah Campbell, Joseph Crayston, Sadie Hill, Thomas Hunter, Samuella Kabila, Anita Mwangi, David Peral, Ryan Roskell, Luke Taylor, Steve Stewart, Niki Kim, CPA, The Hill Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Furman University, Furman University #innovation, #leadershipdevelopment, #mindset, #entrepreneurship, #growth
