On April 29th, the Landegger Program in International Business Diplomacy (IBD) hosted the 5th Annual Global Impact Pitch Competition (GIPC) finals at Georgetown University. GIPC is an innovative entrepreneurial event that serves the entire Georgetown student community and is led by Professor Dale Murphy. During the final, six finalist teams pitched their entrepreneurial ideas to a panel of five distinguished judges.
The judges awarded $25,000 in seed funding to the six finalists. The 2023 winners were:
1st Place: Georgetown REUSE, which focuses on reducing waste and increasing access to affordable clothes, school supplies, and dorm materials through item donations, presented by Brooke Hodge (BSFS ‘24) representing teammates Molly Austin SFS ’25, Rita Alan SFS ’24, Stephane Granato SFS ’24, Elizabeth Packard C’25, Zoe Wojnowich SFS ‘25, Eleanor Hohenberg C’25, Braden Padberg B’24, and Paul Aversa SFS ‘25.
2nd Place: Mitraba, an automated recruitment platform connecting Mexican migrant workers to H-2 employers, disrupting the slow and abusive old system, led by Brian Yu (C ‘24)
People’s Choice Award (chosen by audience vote): Dátil, which empowers refugees and shares their culture and resilience through food, led by Ellie McDonald (MGHD ‘23)
Other finalists, who also received funding to kickstart their projects, included:
- Futures of Kashmir, which is focused on creating libraries to empower low-income Kashmiri students through literacy, led by Janeeta Shaukat (SOH ‘24).
- HoyaHelper, an AI-powered academic and social advisor for Georgetown students, led by Lucas Raskin (C ‘25) and Rowan O’Sullivan (C ‘25).
- Rainyday, which offers savings and financial resilience to traditionally underserved communities in emerging markets, led by Nathaniel Salander (BSFS ‘25) and Rasmus Dey Meyer (BSFS ‘25).
Our distinguished panel of judges included:
- Alan Gould (SFS’83, P’24, SFS Board of Advisors), co-founder of Peak Opportunity Partners, founder and Co-CEO of MutualMarkets.
- Greg Landegger (BSFS ’93, IPOL), angel investor, Vice President, Parsons & Whittemore, Inc., supporter of the Landegger Program in International Business Diplomacy.
- Ario Keshani (BSFS ’05, IPEC), serial entrepreneur and angel investor).
- Halleh Seyson, COO Cathexis; angel investor, her women’s angel group invested in GIPC‘s prize-winner Shavini Fernandez’ Oxiwear.
- Greg Bernstein (MSFS ’18, Wallenberg Fellow), EQT Ventures, Investor.
The Landegger Program in International Business Diplomacy is incredibly grateful for the School of Foreign Service and Citi Ventures support and funding of GIPC. Without them, it would not be possible to hold these groundbreaking and inspiring initiatives. We would like to thank all the judges for their encouragement, participation, and expertise in this process. Finally, we would also love to thank everyone who participated in this year’s GIPC for their hard work and dedication.