SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Ever wish you had a travel app that did it all – check airline and hotel prices, locate nearby restaurants, book Uber, keep your expense receipts and even find friends in the area
Voyway, a travel app company created by two Wofford College students, can do all that.
The entrepreneurial spirit that helped create that app will be celebrated on Thursday, April 20, at the Terrier StartUP Challenge. The program of The Space in the Mungo Center at Wofford will showcase Voyway and other Wofford student start-ups in a competition for a piece of $8,000 in prize money.
The Terrier StartUp Challenge will feature other start-up ideas created by Wofford students, including She’s Here, a social venture to solve the problem of affordable and accessible feminine hygiene products for girls in Tanzania; a new athletic clothing line specifically for Muslim women that addresses the need for performance wear while maintaining religious standards; and Dream Catchers Fly Fishing, a curriculum to help high school environmental science teachers use fly fishing to teach stream ecology, water conservation and soil erosion.
The program, set for 5 to 8 p.m. in the Galleria in the Michael S. Brown Village Center, will provide students with the opportunity to pitch their ideas to a live audience and a panel of expert judges, who will decide who receives a cut of the prize money. Ron Andrews, a 1981 Wofford graduate and a serial biotech entrepreneur and venture fund founder who now lives in California, will be the featured speaker and a member of the judging panel. Other judges are Tramaine Brown, a 2011 graduate who worked for former First Lady Michelle Obama and now works for Apple; Jacqueline Thomas, founder and CEO of Girls Pursuing Science and Kids-N-Technology; and Gil Vassoly, CFO of Gibbs International.
The Terrier StartUP Challenge is sponsored by Launch, Wofford’s entrepreneurship program in The Space in the Mungo Center, the college’s professional development center. Launch helps students, regardless of their academic major, unleash their entrepreneurial talents to start and grow successful ventures and develop an entrepreneurial mindset.
“Launching a new idea and starting a company is a great way for students to distinguish themselves as leaders and to develop a highly sought-after skill set,” says Lynne Salkowski Mullin, assistant director of entrepreneurial program.
The Terrier StartUP Challenge is open to the public free of charge and includes hors d’oeuvres and drinks. Register online at Eventbrite by searching Terrier StartUP Challenge.