IE University announces the winning entrepreneurial projects of the Summer Booster

IE University has announced the winning projects for the Entrepreneurship Track of the IE University Summer Booster, which took place during the month of August. The Summer Booster provided undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to broaden their academic experience and network with their peers and professors from the five schools that make up IE University.

The Entrepreneurship Track was a four week immersive experience on campus and students participated in training projects, round tables with experts, meetings with mentors and pitch slams, and more. In addition to the Entrepreneurship Track, the Summer Booster also included a track focused on the post-COVID world, in which students could participate both online or on campus.

The students who participated in the Entrepreneurial Track presented their final projects to a jury made up of experts in entrepreneurial management, among them Alvaro Cuesta, CEO of Food in the Box; Nir Hindi, CEO of The Artian; Rafael Salazar, entrepreneur and investor; and investors Trevor Ulbrick and Sugata Jain.

“Given the disruption caused by the global pandemic, we wanted to create an effective educational experience for our students during the summer. The quality of the startup ideas developed by our students and the learning curve have set a new trend at our institution.”
Sugata Jain, investor and IE University professor

“I would also highlight the sense of community that was created in how much the students helped one other and worked within the ecosystem of professors, mentors and experts. It was a true reflection of collective problem solving, entrepreneurial creativity, and leadership,” she added.

In the Special Awards category, three projects were recognized. International MBA student Ethan Boivie, Bachelor in Economics Pedro Henrique and Master in Visual and Digital Media Hayat Buseiri, developed ANTI, a drink that minimizes the effects of alcohol. Rebecca Rosser, Sujay Shivapooja and Gonzalo Fischer, German, Indian and Spanish students of the Master in Big Data and Business Analytics, International MBA and Master in Digital Marketing Part-Time for the development of remotePT, a SaaS platform for online personal training. And Nur Younis, Spanish student of the BBA BIR, for GLOOBL, a solution that helps primary school students to develop their personal skills and expand their knowledge in areas of interest.

In the Investors’ Choice category, the winners were Aditya Andra, Ani Afyan Semerdjian and Lucía Belmonte Valera, Indian, Armenian and Spanish students respectively of the Master in Business Analytics and Big Data, for the development of Wiselike, an application that allows influencers and small companies to use machine learning tools to expand their audience. The finalist project in this category was Life Saverz, developed by Alejandro Orozco Franco, María Natalia Marín Rey and Marina Orozco.

In the Crowd Favourites’ category, the winners were Joshua Danis, Adrianna Berring and Mohamad El Zaatari, students of Canadian, American and Lebanese nationality from the Master in Management, the Master in Visual and Digital Media and the Master in Real Estate Development, for VivaLeaf, a project to develop sustainable hydroponic irrigation kits. Also, Siyao Wang, Onthatile Nkobeni and Nur Younis, Chinese, South African and Spanish students of the Master in International Development, Master in Management and double degree BBA BIR, for GLOOBL, a project that was also honored with a Special Award.

In the Best Team category, the winners were Ethan Boivie, Pedro Henrique and Hayat Buseiri, American, Brazilian and Ethiopian students of the International MBA, Bachelor in Economics and Master in Visual and Digital Media, for ANTI, which was also awarded a Special Prize. In this category, the finalist students were Mamoun Kassab, Valeria Hernandez Sanchez and Natalia Miralles Zarembo, for the No-Net project, and Alejandro Orozco Franco, María Natalia Marín Rey and Marina Orozco, for the Life Saverz project.

In the Most Innovative category, the jury distinguished two projects. Aditya Andra, Ani Afyan Semerdjian and Lucía Belmonte Valera, of Indian, Armenian and Spanish nationality, from the Master in Business Analytics and Big Data, for Wiselike, a project that was also awarded in the Investors’ Choice category. Joshua Danis, Adrianna Berring and Mohamad El Zaatari, Canadian, American and Lebanese students, have also received this award for VivaLeaf, which was also recognized in the Crowd Favourite category, where the finalists were Ryan Winkler, Alberto Pavesi and Gastón Aguirre for the VoltShare project, along with Ethan Boivie, Pedro Henrique and Hayat Buseiri for their ANTI project, which was also recognized in the Special Award and Best Team categories.