BMCC Hosts 14th Annual Entrepreneur Summit Virtually

Panelists at summit.

May 14, 2020

More than 160 participants attended the 14th Annual Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC/CUNY) Entrepreneurial Summit on May 12. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the summit, hosted by the Business Management department, was held on the virtual conference platform Remo. 

The all-day event was filled with presentations, opportunities for students to pitch or virtually invest in business ideas as well as timely panel discussions led by industry leaders including BMCC alumni. 

The summit was led and organized by Professor Roderick Shane Snipes who is coordinator of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship degree program, Business Management Professor Shamira Malekar with help from the Business Enterprise Club President, Nomi Qurashi. Snipes also organized the 2nd BMCC Student Founders Festival, which happened concurrently, and included three mentoring sessions with 34 business mentors from across the world.

Before the summit began, students were encouraged to download a gamified investor app so they could participate in the pre-investor competition. Student entrepreneurs were encouraged to visit virtual ballrooms filled with tables where they could pitch ideas and answer questions from student virtual investors and mentors. 

Panelists included founders and other representatives from startups and businesses on the frontlines of the COVID-ravaged economy. Each talked about ways sustainability, equity and paying forward are impacting entrepreneurship during the pandemic. Most panelists agreed, the world’s new normal will see a surge of new innovators in the healthcare space. 

During one morning discussion, Adam Casson, CEO of RESPONSEPPE said “Once we pivot to whatever the new normal is in a post-COVID world is, we’re going to see a lot of entrepreneurs innovating in the health space who weren’t there before.”

BMCC Alumnus tells students to get involved, build relationships on campus, or virtually

After working in the corporate world at big banks for several years, (05, Business Administration) Saint Hung decided he wanted to carve out a different path for his life so he quit his job and started taking classes at BMCC. 

“I left the big bank world becuase they were solely focused on shareholder returns,” said Hung, who is founder and CEO of Universal Processing. “Now, we have tens of thousands of businesses under the company’s portfolio and a couple of billion dollars under management.”

Hung told the student entrepreneurs to focus on their vision, that people will recognize true passion. He also advised them to utilize resources around them at BMCC.

“I could not have gotten to where I am without the help of my colleagues and the faculty and administrators at BMCC,” said Hung, who added it’s important for students to get involved in the various programs at the college.

“I was a student ambassador, a mentor and phi theta kappa, all of the activities I was involved with at BMCC taught me a lot about being a leader,” he said. 

Interim president congratulates winners

Interim President Karrin Wilks made an appearance during the afternoon and congratulated the winners of the pitching session competition.

“We’ve all been through a rapid shift in the way we work, live and learn,” said Wilks. “The incredible irony of this is that we’ve all had to be very entrepreneurial in a very short time and we’ll need to continue to do so for the foreseeable future.”

Wilks told the students that the skills and knowledge they learn and develop in their classes and at events such as the summit will serve them well as everyone does their part to contribute to New York City’s economic recovery which she called, “a massive undertaking.”

“Entrepreneurship is going to be one of the very important keys to economic recovery and an equitably thriving city,” said Wilks.

The winner of the Rising Star Women Entrepreneur award, and $250 cash, was Small Business and Entrepreneurship (SBE) major Mariama Faye and her company Wake up and Sit. The company’s vision is to redefine mental health and education through positive psychology, influence a paradigm shift and unveil the stigmas surrounding mental health and education in the Gambia West Africa. 

“My cousin who I loved so much, had a mental disorder and he was cast from the community and couldn’t receive any help, and that’s where the idea was born,” said Faye.

Wilks and Snipes both said entrepreneurial ventures such as Faye’s are at the heart of what entrepreneurship is. 

“We’re going to need more projects with this kind of heart, we’re really inspired by you,” said Wilks.

The Audience Award winner of $100 was SBE major Alyssa Suarez for her business idea Tomorrow’s Future. Her startup is a GED program that offers schooling, job opportunities and certificates. They also host events throughout the year. 

And the Grand Prize winner of $450 went to Business Administration major Carolina Quispe and SBE major Kathleen Sharkey for their business idea Nail and Hair on the Go. Their start up offers hair and other beauty treatments to travelers who get delayed for long periods at airports. 

  • Interim President tells students entrepreneurship will be key to economic recovery
  • Virtual setting features opportunities for students to pitch startup ideas
  • CEOs and other panelists say startup space deeply impacted by COVID-19

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