Applications are now open for the 2021-22 EO Global Student Entrepreneur Awards NYC Regional Competition!
Determine your eligibility and fill out an application below.
WHAT
A global competition for students with entrepreneurial minds, a growing business, and a desire to connect, the GSEA Awards offers chosen applicants exposure and networking opportunities with top entrepreneurs in their respective fields. Applications are now OPEN for the 2021-22 NYC Regional competition until November 5, 2021.
WHEN & WHERE
The 2021-22 NYC Regional GSEA Competition will be held Friday, December 3, 2021.
The 2021-22 GSEA U.S. Nationals Competition will be held in February 2022
2019 Winner
Tania Speaks
We are pleased to announce our 2019-20 Regional Winner Tania Speaks!
Accolades
2019-20 New York Student Entrepreneur of the Year
Hofstra University
MEET EO'S NY REGIONAL GLOBAL STUDENT ENTREPRENEUR AWARDS WINNER FOR 2019-20
TANIA SPEAKS
The Entrepreneurs’ Organization’s Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA), a global competition of students running revenue-generating businesses while carrying full academic course loads, has announced Tania Speaks as the 2019-20 New York Student Entrepreneur of the Year.
Speaks, who is a Hofstra University sophomore majoring in Entrepreneurship, won for her business, Brow Boost, an organic eyebrow gel that grows thin brows and tames thick brows.
How Brow Boost came to be is personal for Speaks. The teen years can be challenging on many levels and Speaks endured years of continuous bullying for her bushy eyebrows. A best effort to tame them on her own with a sharp razor blade eventually landed her the ER. It was then that Speaks was determined to find a solution to brows back and embrace natural beauty. And in the process, some valuable lessons were learned as she embarked on very first business.
“One of the most important lessons I have learned from building Brow Boost is patience,” Speaks explains. “As an entrepreneur, I am always eager and ready to reach my next level of success. However, in order to accomplish my goals, it requires a great deal of time as well as capital and reliable resources. Developing patience was extremely important during my journey because it allowed me to appreciate the present while setting goals for the future.”
Growing up in Baltimore also influenced Speaks’ journey into entrepreneurship as she remains focused on her goals in taking Brow Boost to the next level.
“Baltimore is a city with one of the highest crime and murder rates,” Speaks says. “Baltimore has impacted my entrepreneurial journey because it has taught me to be grateful for life and the opportunity to follow my dreams at a young age.”
Additionally, Speaks says her mother, Tanika, has been instrumental in growing Brow Boost. She has an MBA and BS in Business and assists her daughter handling all financial aspects of the business as Chief Operations Officer. But it is their close relationship that Speaks is truly appreciative of.
She credits her mother as her inspiration to create meaningful change. In her words, “My mom is a single mom and my true best friend. She taught me that as women we can be independent and successful, while also showing kindness and love to everyone around us. My mom has always encouraged me to follow my dreams in science, and she is my inspiration as I dedicate my research and innovation to help others and our planet.”
“My mom has been a huge impact in my life as a whole,” she explains. “Since I was very young, she has not only been my mom but my coach, mentor, and motivator. My mom encourages me to always strive for greatness and be the best at anything I do, whether that is educational, personal, or entrepreneurial.”
Tania Speaks is ready. She is passionate about her product and her business. She is an incredible example for entrepreneurs in the making. “My advice for an aspiring entrepreneur is to start,” Speaks says. “You are never too young or too old. You will never know if your idea will work unless you try. Once you start, you are already more successful than you were before.”
2018 Winner
Daniela Blanco
Our 2018-19 Regional Winner, Daniela Blanco, captured the title at the 2018-19 GSEA Global Finals!
Learn more about Daniela’s journey to the 2019 Global Finals held in Macao, China April 10-11 at gsea.org.
Accolades
100 Top Female Founders from Inc Magazine
Top Innovators Under 35 from Latin America by MIT Technology Review
Forbes 30 Under 30 in Energy
2020 Winner of The “Use it!” Lemelson-MIT Student Prize
2019 Global GSEA Student Entrepreneur of the Year
2019 U.S. National GSEA Student Entrepreneur of the Year
2018-19 New York Student Entrepreneur of the Year
New York University Tandon School of Engineering
Watch Daniela speak more about GSEA and Sunthetics at the EO International Entrepreneurial Summit in June 2019
MEET EO'S GLOBAL, U.S. NATIONAL, AND NY REGIONAL GLOBAL STUDENT ENTREPRENEUR AWARDS WINNER FOR 2018-19
DANIELA BLANCO
The Entrepreneurs’ Organization’s Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA), a global competition of students running revenue-generating businesses while carrying full academic course loads, has announced Daniela Blanco as the 2018-19 Global Student Entrepreneur of the Year.
Blanco, now a second-year Ph.D. student in chemical engineering at New York University (NYU) Tandon School of Engineering, captured the Global title following two days of final-round competitions in Macao, China where she competed against 51 other ‘studentpreneurs’. Daniela, who won the New York City Regional GSEA Competition in November and took the National title in January, started Sunthetics with the goal of making the chemical industry more sustainable and less harmful to the environment. Speaking humbly following her global win, she said: “GSEA has been life-changing for me. The entire experience has made me grow and realize how much it matters to understand who you are and what got you to where you are. If that fuels your motivation and drives you forward, then it doesn’t matter how hard it gets.”
Sunthetics is a startup that offers companies a chemical path to manufacture Nylon's key component using renewable energy sources in a way that is more efficient and less expensive. “Sunthetics has developed a more efficient and cleaner manufacturing process for a nylon intermediate”, Daniela says. “As nylon production is one of the most polluting in the fiber and plastic industry, we have set out to redesign the manufacturing process by using electricity instead of heat as a source of power…thereby reducing raw material use and energy use by 50%, halving waste production, and reducing manufacturing costs by 30%.”
Blanco leads technology and business development for Sunthetics, building and optimizing the chemical reactor for commercial use. She has two other co-founders, Miguel Modestino, technology advisor and Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (named Top Innovator under 35 by MIT Technology Review) and Myriam Sbeiti, a chemical engineer co-leading business development alongside Blanco. The team has won several awards and grants, including the 2018 University Startup World Cup (GreenTech track) held in Denmark, the NYU Stern Entrepreneurship Challenge, NYU InnoVention Challenge, and Stage I and II of VentureWell grant.
Daniela’s motivation to become an entrepreneur evolved out of her desire to make an impact and be part of meaningful research. Prior to Sunthetics, Daniela led Solar Textiles, a research project funded by the H&M Global Change Award to use solar energy on the chemical production of Nylon 6,6. After developing the proof-of-concept device to produce the first Nylon component, she saw the impact that the technology could have in the chemical industry and co-founded Sunthetics to commercialize the technology.
But even before Daniela’s time at NYU, she embodied fierce resilience and determination to create change – both at home and abroad. Born and raised by her single mother in Caracas, Venezuela, Daniela showed strong potential as a BS candidate in chemical engineering at Universidad Simon Bolivar. When she had the opportunity to travel overseas, she left the life she knew – in the wake of political turmoil and unrest – to pursue her Ph.D. at NYU.
She credits her mother as her inspiration to create meaningful change. In her words, “My mom is a single mom and my true best friend. She taught me that as women we can be independent and successful, while also showing kindness and love to everyone around us. My mom has always encouraged me to follow my dreams in science, and she is my inspiration as I dedicate my research and innovation to help others and our planet.”
Daniela adds, “Entrepreneurship has been full of unexpected and crazy turns, but I am only grateful for all I have learnt and for knowing that no matter the obstacle, we will keep moving forward as we love and believe in our idea. Day after day we keep learning, we keep adapting, we keep building... knowing that every step counts towards our goal.”
Her advice for aspiring entrepreneurs? “Love your idea enough to fight for it, but always know that adapting and pivoting is necessary to build a better product and succeed.”
ELIGIBILITY![]()
