Puerto Rican Student Named Champion at 2018 EO Global Student Entrepreneur Awards
Alexandria, Virginia, USA (18 April 2018) – Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO), the world's leading peer-to-peer network of successful business owners has declared Axel Antonio Garcia Burgos from Puerto Rico as the champion of the 2018 EO Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA). GSEA is EO's premier awards program for students who own or operate a business while attending college or university. This year's finals took place in Toronto, Canada and brought together 54 students from across the world.
Axel founded PRation LLC as a way to create commercial products in the field of astronautics. The company's first product, Hydropearl, will be used to reduce water consumption on irrigation systems and provide a fertilizing solution to grow food for home applications and industrial farming.
Speaking enthusiastically after the win, Axel said, "I feel very excited and honored to be recognized for my passion and my vision on how I want to impact the world. My plan is to use the lessons learned and connections I made to scale my business. I hope that Hydropearl will expand across all markets where water consumption on irrigation systems are critical due to high losses or lack of water."
In addition to access to networking and mentorship, Axel received a cash prize of US$25,000 plus donated business products and services. The runner up innovations had a similar healthcare theme inspired by very personal experiences. The first runner up from this year's competition is Andre Bertram from Canada, the founder of HelpWear, and the second runner up was Max Mohammadi from Sweden, founder of Heartstrings.
Sharing his experience judging the competition this year, Brian Brault, EO Global Chairman said, "One of the best aspects of the EO GSEA competition is the realization it brings to student entrepreneurs that no matter where you are in the world, being an entrepreneur has many similarities. We have seen thousands of students participate in local and national qualifiers on the road to this final competition. The sense of purpose from these students has been impressive and I applaud our global competitors and our winners. Having heard their stories, to say I'm humbled would be an understatement."
Last year's winner of the EO GSEA competition and judge for this year, Julian Rios Cantu, CEO Higia Technologies said, "The participants this year were all very fascinating people with inspiring businesses and personal stories. I'm very happy to be a part of something like this that brings entrepreneurs together at such a high level and I look forward to watching these finalists continue to grow their businesses."
Honoring some of the other inspiring student entrepreneurs:
- Innovation Award went to Fernely Lebron from Dominican Republic for Wara, an autonomous amphibious vehicle that allows people with physical disabilities to drive on land, sand and sea.
- Social Impact Award was received by Berat Kjamili from Turkey for his QZenobia refugee big data analytics startup.
- Sergey Vykhodtsev Lessons from the Edge Award honoree was Palesa Motaung from South Africa for Desert Green a rural agricultural accelerator which creates new and grows small scale farmers in rural Africa for food production.
This year saw a total of 1500 student entrepreneurs participate in local, national and regional level competitions worldwide. Student entrepreneurs first competed against peers locally and 54 finalists each representing their home countries made it to the semi-final round of the competition. The finals this year was supported by Microsoft, Canada. Participants in the EO GSEA competition are college or university students and entrepreneurs that are primarily responsible for a business that has been operational for at least six consecutive months. View our entire list of global finalists here and for information on EO GSEA please visit: http://gsea.org/
About the Entrepreneurs' Organization's Global Student Entrepreneur Awards
As the premier global competition for University students, the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) represents more than 1,700 of the prominent student entrepreneurs from more than 55 countries. Built on a mission to inspire students to start and grow entrepreneurial ventures, GSEA brings global visibility to pioneering student business owners. Since 1998, the GSEA, a program founded at the John Cook School of Business at Saint Louis University, has honored outstanding students who simultaneously attend university full-time while running their own businesses. The Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) took on leadership of the GSEA in 2006 to offer student entrepreneurs access to a global network of mentors, resources and connections from the most influential community of entrepreneurs in the world. The Entrepreneurs' Organization's GSEA is generously supported by Thomas Franchise Solutions.
