UT Tyler Students Awarded for Entrepreneurial Ideas at Annual Competition 

NIKITA CHUEV

TYLER, Texas (November 21, 2023) – The University of Texas at Tyler announced the winners of the  third annual Big Idea Pitch Competition, which featured entrepreneurial ideas of UT Tyler students. 

Hosted by the university’s East Texas Entrepreneurship Center, this year’s competition featured 15  teams of undergraduate and graduate students from the Soules College of Business and College of  Engineering who presented various ideas across three tracks – consumer products and services,  health/life science and general. 

CHADWICK MIGUES

“The event, tailored for aspiring student entrepreneurs and innovators, showcased an array of  groundbreaking concepts spanning diverse sectors, from health applications to automated  gardening systems,” said Brandon Reynolds, UT Tyler ETEC acting director. “We congratulate all of  the winners.”

The 2023 Big Pitch winners are listed by competition track.  

Consumer Products and Services 

• First: Electrical engineering majors Slade Sills of Gladewater and Ryan Cole of Tyler. • Second: Mechanical engineering major
  

  ALMUTASIM BILLAH AL-MANASER

  of Tyler. • Third: Marketing major Nikita Chuev of Russia. 

SLADE SILLS and RYAN COVE

Health/Life Science 

• First: Electrical engineering major Aminu Haruna of Tyler. 
• Second: Information technology major Chadwick Migues of Tyler. 
• Third: Electrical engineering major Elvis Donmaaye Sangmen of Ghana. 

General 

• First: Accounting major Gloria Hernandez of Henderson. 
• Second: Electrical engineering majors Maliha
  

  GLORIA HERNANDEZ

  Kabir of Bangladesh and Aryan Anand of India. • Third: Business management major Adrien Joseph Gonzalez of Corpus Christi. 

ARYAN ANAND

Teams had precisely 60 seconds to present their ideas before a distinguished panel of seasoned entrepreneurs including John Soules Sr., Bill McGaughey and Phil Burks. First- and second-place  winners received a cash prize in the amount of $1,000 and $500, respectively. 

The event was made possible through UT Tyler’s partnership with Blackstone LaunchPad, which  helps students succeed in entrepreneurship while building next-generation companies and careers.  ETEC’s next event will be the 2024 Business Model Competition, where new and returning

contestants will present to potential investors to win prize money for idea development and  product launch. 

ELVIS DONMAAYE SANGMEN

The UT Tyler East Texas Entrepreneurship Center works to improve economic development through  entrepreneurship and innovation programming. The center’s competitions and programs provide  mentoring and potential funding opportunities to ensure that viable new ventures accelerate and  scale more quickly. For more information, visit uttyler.edu/entrepreneurship-center. 

ADRIEN JOSEPH GONZALES

AMINU HARUNA

With a mission to improve educational and health care outcomes for East Texas and beyond, UT  Tyler offers more than 90 undergraduate and graduate programs to nearly 10,000 students.  Through its alignment with UT Tyler Health Science Center and UT Health East Texas, UT Tyler has  unified these entities to serve Texas with quality education, cutting-edge research and excellent  patient care. Classified by Carnegie as a doctoral research institution and by U.S. News & World  Report as a national university, UT Tyler has campuses in Tyler, Longview, Palestine and Houston.