The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, WOC Incubator Pitch Competition
By Weslyn Harmon
On November 1, 2023, the Women’s Center co-hosted the WBENC, the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, WOC Incubator Pitch Competition. By participating in the WOC incubator sessions, young female entrepreneurs at Howard had the opportunity to engage with successful women-owned businesses and America’s largest Fortune 500 companies. These industry leaders taught them viable skills in entrepreneurship and business ideation. The Incubator ended with a Pitch Competition awarding thousands of dollars in seed capital and an all-expenses paid trip to the WBENC National Conference & Business Fair in Denver, CO, for the first-place winner.
The Pitch competition began with welcoming remarks from Jill Sasso, the Chief Operating Officer at WBENC. Shortly after, Audrey Awasom, the Senior Manager of Programs at WBENC, gave an overview of the WOC Incubator program and the other programs WBENC offers for female entrepreneurs. The organization certifies businesses as ‘Woman-owned’ and supports budding entrepreneurs to bring their ideas to fruition. Our Executive Director at the Center for Women, Gender and Global Leadership, Dr. Jarpa J. Dawuni, also gave congratulatory remarks and words of encouragement to the pitch participants.
The Judges for the Pitch Competition included Sandra Eberhard, the President & CEO of WBEC Metro NY and WBEC Greater DMV; Porsche Pettiford, the VP of Hotel Openings and Transitions at Marriott International; Tarrance Frierson, the Director of Global Supplier Diversity at Bristol-Myers Squibb; Sharon Lewis, the Assistant Dean of Impact and Engagement at Howard University School of Business, and Destiny J. Wesley, the 2022 WBENC WOC Incubator 1st Place Winner.
The Pitch Competition included 22 Howard students, with both undergraduate and graduate female entrepreneurs represented. The students could pitch for Three minutes, and judges would ask questions for two more minutes. At the end of the event, the winners were announced. The first-place winner was Raina Ford, the owner of Project I See U, LLC, a nonprofit that produces a book on disability awareness. The second-place winner was Courtney Griffin, the owner of Tutor Connect, which connects students with affordable tutoring services administered by HBCU students. The third-place winner was Kemi Karim, with Roses from the Concrete, a program incorporating Art and Culture into Diversity and Inclusion training. Through WBENC, all participants gained invaluable business and product development skills.