TWO ENTREPRENEURS WIN STARTUP TVL SCHOLARSHIPS TO TEXAS MBA PROGRAM

2018 TVL Scholarship Winners: Tina Mabley, Alec Grubbs (KindHeart), Andrea Ewalefo (DiYGo), Rob Adams

Photo: (L-R): Tina Mabley, Alec Grubbs (KindHeart), Andrea Ewalefo (DIYGo), Rob Adams

AUSTIN, Texas — Jon Brumley Texas Venture Labs (TVL) and the Texas McCombs MBA program announced two 2018 TVL scholarship recipients, Alexander “Alec” Grubbs and Andrea Ewalefo at the sixth annual TVL Scholarship Competition on March 23 at the McCombs School of Business. Grubbs and Ewalefo will both receive a scholarship for $20,000 in the form of $10,000 per year for the two-year MBA program.

The TVL Scholarship Competition is a unique business pitch competition where potential MBA students pitch their business plan for a scholarship to the Texas MBA program in a ‘Shark Tank’ like environment. This year’s winners competed against 19 other prospective Texas MBA students.

“We created this competition because we wanted a different way to evaluate aspiring entrepreneurs in the admissions process,” says Tina Mabley, assistant dean of the Texas MBA program. “It has been even more successful than we imagined in helping us attract and evaluate future students interested in starting their own business, and the quality of the competition is more impressive every year.”

Grubbs pitched his business plan for KindHeart, Inc. Kindheart trains surgeons for robotic surgeries three times faster than other programs. Grubbs’ plan provides a foundation to a five billion dollar robotic surgical industry.

Ewalefo pitched her business plan for DiYGo, the first ever DIY vegan subscription that offers pre-portioned kits using materials and ingredients that are organic, vegan, recycled and ethically sourced. The kits provide recipes and projects for hair and beauty, home and garden, and arts and crafts.

Honorable mention went to Scott Plooser, who will receive a $3,000 scholarship for his business pitch for Innovative AgTech and Lauren Harper who will receive a $3,000 scholarship for her business pitch for Product SMART.

The finals judges included Tina Mabley, assistant dean of the MBA program; Christopher Meakin, senior lecturer; Rob Adams, senior lecturer and founding director of TVL; Angelise Hadley, 2017 TVL Scholarship recipient.

For more information, contact: David Wenger, McCombs School of Business, 512-471-3314.

One thought on “TWO ENTREPRENEURS WIN STARTUP TVL SCHOLARSHIPS TO TEXAS MBA PROGRAM

  1. I’m honored to have been a part of this! A big thank you to TVL for putting this together.

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