Meet The Challengers: 16 Student Teams Prepare to Compete in the Fowler Business Concept Challenge
The Knauss School of Business is pleased to announce the semifinalist teams competing in the 7th Annual Fowler Business Concept Challenge (FBCC) on December 5. These 16 teams were selected from among many unique submissions, and represent four USD schools — the Knauss School of Business, the Kroc School of Peace Studies, the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering and College of Arts and Sciences.
Undergraduate and graduate student participants have prepared their ideas all semester, receiving mentorship from faculty and staff, and will pitch their business concepts in front of judges and audiences to compete for $45,000 in scholarships. The FBCC Grand Finale will be held at 4 p.m. on Dec. 5 at the KIPJ Theatre and is open to the USD community and the public. Register today.
Semi-Finalist Teams:
AI Study Planner
Team: Perla Akiki, Knauss School of Business
Paulette Castro, Knauss School of Business
Regina Lopez Sanchez, Knauss School of Business
AI Study Planner revolutionizes how students learn by turning disorganized study habits into smart, data-driven strategies. Using artificial intelligence, it analyzes each student's schedule, workload, and goals to create adaptive and personalized study plans that optimize productivity while minimizing stress. Our platform leverages new technology that empowers students to study smarter, not harder.
DIAL
Team: Naomi Debass, Knauss School of Business
DIAL is an AI-powered VR/AR platform transforming career exploration into an immersive, story-driven experience. We solve the problem of student career confusion by letting users virtually live a "day in a life" of real professionals- from doctors, financial advisors, to renewable energy engineers.
Eatogether
Team: Malik Issa Hamideh, Knauss School of Business
Eatogether is a social media platform that connects USD or any university students, through their college email account by adding their friends. Eatogether purpose is to connect college students for lunch, meet up and facilitate these coordinations. The app solves the problem of inefficient lunch coordination between students, and impacts students' lives by giving them a 20-30 minute break eating with their friends on their highly busy weekday schedules. My app impacts students because of the importance college lunch meetings have on academics, social life and stress relief.
ESGIndex
Team: Joshua Mora, Knauss School of Business
Diego Fiallos, Knauss School of Business
Ahmed Zakzouk, Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering
ESGIndex is a SaaS platform that helps small and medium-sized enterprises easily track and report their environmental, social, and governance performance. By automating data collection and aligning metrics with global standards, it enables SMEs to access green financing and supply chain opportunities previously out of reach.
Forefront
Team: Ausar Myers, Knauss School of Business
Henry Nicholson, Knauss School of Business
Luke Morrison, Knauss School of Business
Forefront is your all-in-one AI hub where students and pros test skills in real-time zones, track every breakthrough, and apply them through live networks with experts. We turn scattered experiments into a trusted, shareable playbook that fits any career path. Learn, connect, and thrive from campus to corner office to stay at the forefront.
KUA Farms
Team: Kaimana Poulton, Knauss School of Business
KUA Farms is a business endeavor that provides exotic produce extracts to the tourism and hospitality markets of Hawai’i. Sourced locally on the island of Kaua’i, our mission is to provide unique and high-quality plant compounds with rare scents, flavors and medicinal properties to consumers in a variety of forms.
LexAI
Team: John McNamara, Knauss School of Business
Luba Al-Khalili, College of Arts and Sciences
LexAI, an intelligent legal platform that bridges the gap between entrepreneurs and lawyers through AI-driven matching and document automation. Founders receive accessible legal help at startup speed; lawyers have a smarter way to grow their practice.
MarineMed
Team: Bella Ng, College of Arts and Sciences
Georgia Holmes, College of Arts and Sciences
MarineMed is a biotechnology startup discovering and developing novel drug compounds from marine organisms using advanced genomic and AI-based screening. Its mission is to unlock the ocean’s untapped potential to create sustainable, life saving medications for diseases like cancer and antibiotic-resistant infections.
Medtourist
Team: Colin Roy, Knauss School of Business
Preston Dorand, Knauss School of Business
Daniel Avelar, Knauss School of Business
Medtourist is a platform designed to match patients seeking affordable cosmetic surgeries with qualified professionals around the world. By auditing medical practices and providing potential patients with the ability to read and write reviews online, the platform eliminates concerns regarding medical malpractice.
Mood Ring AI
Team: Lily Wool, Knauss School of Business
Mood Ring AI helps HR and Legal teams detect high-risk emotional cues in employee communications before they escalate into costly conflicts or lawsuits. Our AI-powered platform analyzes digital channels like Slack, Teams, and email, translating subtle emotional nuances into clear, color-coded insights. By catching warning signs early, Mood Ring AI reduces litigation risk and fosters psychologically safer workplaces.
Oink
Team: Zevin Attisha, Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering
Andre Suaid, Knauss School of Business
Oink is your digital piggy bank. Everytime you make a purchase, Oink rounds it up to the nearest dollar and invests the difference into a cryptocurrency of your choice, turning your spare change into digital wealth!
Piña Designs
Team: Sage Dobby, Kroc School of Peace Studies
Piña Designs turns pineapple waste into purpose. By creating the world’s first biodegradable, plastic-free hair ties from discarded pineapple leaves, the company is redefining what planet-conscious innovation looks like. Their goal is simple: to make sustainable living the new norm.
Rentra
Team: Liam Haskett, Knauss School of Business
Ethan Huynh, College of Arts and Sciences
Rentra is a housing ecosystem that simplifies and secures the student rental experience. It connects verified students and landlords in one trusted ecosystem, streamlining everything from roommate matching and lease signing to payments and property management. By replacing fragmented, unsafe tools with a transparent, all-in-one platform, Rentra makes renting faster, safer, and stress-free for the next generation of renters.
Spera Funeral Services
Team: Ghazi Hitti, Knauss School of Business
Spera is a prepaid funeral service platform that allows Mexican immigrants in the U.S. to plan and pay for funeral arrangements for their loved ones in Mexico in advance. By partnering with trusted funeral homes, it eliminates the stress, uncertainty, and financial burden families face when handling unexpected deaths from abroad. The platform ensures a transparent, dignified, and seamless process during life’s most difficult moments.
Uniglow
Team: Jayla Davis, Knauss School of Business
UniGlow is a peer-to-peer beauty app made by students, for students, designed exclusively for college campuses. The platform connects students seeking affordable hair, makeup, and skincare services with verified student providers, creating a safe and empowering space for student entrepreneurs. Through built-in background checks and a simple subscription model, UniGlow makes on-campus beauty services more accessible, trusted, and community-driven.
Your Vintage Stylist
Team: Gracen Huffman, Knauss School of Business
Your Vintage Stylist is a sustainable personal styling brand that curates vintage clothing into customized style bundles for women in their 20s. By combining AI-enhanced styling with consistent vintage supply, YVS makes secondhand fashion personal, scalable, and profitable. With six years of proven traction and ~50% margins, we’re systemizing our process to evolve from a curated resale brand into a scalable, data-driven styling company.