FSB student wins spot in Launch It: Cincy program
Farmer School students have been Main Street Ventures competition finalists three of the past four years
FSB student wins spot in Launch It: Cincy program
A first-year Farmer School Supply Chain and Operations Management major and Entrepreneurship co-major has won one of three spots in Main Street Ventures’ Launch It: Cincy program.
Ella Rumpke’s Nail Pops, which creates reusable press-on nails that offer salon-quality beauty without the commitment or harm to natural nails, was one of the winners.
“I initially began brainstorming Nail Pops this past June and further developed the idea in ESP 103 First Year Integrated Core. The challenge was to find a real-world problem and come up with a creative solution. By referencing an ongoing obstacle with press-on nails, a solution was created with Nail Pops. In November at Startup Weekend, I worked diligently to construct technology that provided reusable, damage-free, residue-free nails,” Rumpke said.
In Launch It: Cincy, students pitch their business ideas to a panel of esteemed judges. The three winners of the pitch competition receive a prize package valued at more than $28,000 including in-kind support, an MSV Launch grant, housing, and living expenses for the duration of the program which runs June through July. They also have access to office space, mentoring, finance support, and other resources to help grow their business ideas.
Teams from local universities pitched their ideas during a Feb. 14 pitch competition at The Work+Shop in Wyoming.
“One major key to strengthening our economy and growing our local startup ecosystem is exposing the next generation of home-grown talent to entrepreneurship and providing the resources they need to develop and evolve a business,” said Sean Parker, executive director of Main Street Ventures. “Launch It: Cincy is a valuable program that gives young founders access to the people, information, and capital needed to make their future entrepreneurial endeavors successful. Beyond that, it is our goal to support our region’s talent pipeline by showing these smart and driven individuals why Greater Cincinnati is the place to live and build a business. We look forward to hosting them this summer.”
“Constructing and improving the Nail Pop brand has become my passion. I am extremely grateful to Main Street Ventures for giving me the opportunity to build Nail Pops into a viable, fully operational business,” Rumpke said. “I enthusiastically anticipate working with a team of mentors this summer to help navigate my dream of bringing this product to the market."
Farmer School students have won one or more of the three available spots in the competition three of the four years it’s been held, including a sweep of all three spots in 2021.
