University of Toledo hosts regional competition between local businesses

The University of Toledo hosted a regional round of the InnovateHER competition, in which ten local businesses competed to win a $1,000 prize and a chance to move onto the national round.

The U.S. Small Business Administration launched this competition in March 2015. The goal of the competition is to find local businesses or entrepreneurs who can provide a product or service that improves the lives of women or their families.

Gary Insch, dean of the College of Business and Innovation, was one of the judges at the event. Insch said this was the first year UT was able to host the event, thanks to the Northwest Ohio Minority Business Assistance Center putting in an application.

Following a live pitch round on Tuesday, Dec. 1, the online company One Seed Heritage won first place. Founded by Hilary Dell, the company’s mission is to sell school uniforms to private schools across the country that are fair trade. Dell said this means the people who make the uniforms also make a fair wage.

“We specifically support small women’s cooperatives in Guatemala and also a fair trade factory in India that works with a fair trade, organic cotton initiative that supports marginalized farmers and women in the most rural poor areas of India,” Dell said. “We also have supporting social justice education programs for the kids at these schools that go hand-in-hand with their school uniform. One of those is Skyping with the artisans who made their uniforms in their Spanish classes.”

Dell said there are more programs that include a Spanish learning program, art classes, fashion design clubs, social justice clubs and more opportunities to communicate with those workers who help to make their uniforms.

Holding this competition on campus was a way to help the local applicants get more attention for their business, and this is the sort of work MBAC is centered around, according to Insch.

“[The competition] was really being hosted through the Minority Business Assistance Center,” Insch said. “They exist to help companies progress to taking ideas, to commercialization and then helping existing companies grow their businesses. They also have a lot of training for getting certified to be able to bid on government contracts. It’s all part of what they do in all this community outreach.”

Dell said she works with several schools in northeastern Ohio and her business doubled the student population they will be working with for next year. She also wants to keep adding unique experiences to their programs.

After presenting to the judges and winning, Dell said it was a “horrifying” experience but it meant a lot to be able to take place in a competition such as this.

“I get really excited about school uniforms, and for most people, I don’t think that’s an exciting thing,” Dell said. “When I was in Catholic school I dreaded my uniform. It means a lot just coming to a competition that’s about supporting women, being a woman and just winning is really cool, even if it is just school uniforms.”

For now, Dell has plans to fund some other uniforms with her first place prize. Since she won the regional competition, Dell is now applicable to run in the national competition for InnovateHER which takes place March 17, 2016 in Washington D.C. and the chance to win $70,000.