Stories & Updates

Our community of innovators and entrepreneurs have been hard at work over the past months, gathering an extensive list of accomplishments along the way. UD students, faculty and alumni continue to make waves, with notable achievements like getting recognized in news publications, winning awards and competitions, and securing funding through investments and grants. Check out the full list below, and keep working as a community to make an impact on the world!

This article is part of a series celebrating the 10^th anniversary of Horn Entrepreneurship by highlighting alumni, their stories and accomplishments.

Bryce Fender and Joel Amin for a long time have wanted to improve the world, and they were well into making their impact when they learned that changing the world involved doing the dishes, and getting dirty at times.

The pair, friends since middle school, acquired life-changing skills through Horn Entrepreneurship. With friend Demetrius M. Thorn, in 2017 they created Wilminvest, which buys and renovates houses, ultimately renting them to families in unstable housing situations while being connected to the social services they need for the duration of their stay.

To make progress and be successful, a plan is always the best course of action. Planning can provide structure, efficiency, clarity, and a plethora of other things that can be beneficial in all facets in life. More specifically, athletes, trainers, and coaches can make some real headway with a clear course of action to improve physicality, win games, and break records. This is where movement analytics comes in to provide valuable detailed information that can be used to ensure athletes achieve peak health, safety and performance.

University of Delaware Class of ‘94 alumna Joelle Flynn will appear on Shark Tank Feb. 17 to pitch a product designed by her company FunkkOFF! with Co-Founder and Co-CEO Sonia Hounsell. FunkkOFF!, a winner of UD’s Blue Hen 17 & 43 Award in 2021 and 2022, has disrupted the $34B oral care industry with their innovative dental beauty accessory FunkkOFF! TeethRefreshers, the only multi-use, all-in-one, oral care solution that fits in the palm of your hand. 

This article is part of a series celebrating the 10^th anniversary of Horn Entrepreneurship by highlighting alumni, their stories and accomplishments.

The origin story of Alchemize Fightwear involves a rebellion against hot pink and purple, a statement against male thinking and a push to empower women. The company, founded by Maya Nazareth when she was a 19-year-old University of Delaware student, has been profitable since Day 1.

This article is part of a series celebrating the 10^th anniversary of Horn Entrepreneurship by highlighting alumni, their stories and accomplishments.

The first big innovation that Blue Hen Dental co-founder Farhad Baqi orchestrated for the Smyrna, Delaware, dental practice was a device called the Curing Cube, which sped up the time to harden the resins and dental composites used in making impressions from as much 15 minutes to as little as 10 seconds.

This article is part of a series celebrating the 10^th anniversary of Horn Entrepreneurship by highlighting alumni, their stories and accomplishments.

When James Massaquoi was attending Caesar Rodney High School and working at Taco Bell, he didn’t have a clear path for college. In fact, he would later be turned down in his first two choices in majors, finance and accounting.

On a daily basis Annabelle Camp is considering and researching the varied facets of art conservation. She is about to begin a post-graduate Kress Fellowship at Balboa Art Conservation Center in San Diego, CA. This new opportunity requires a big move from her last position as a graduate intern in the Textile Conservation Studio of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

University of Delaware 2022 graduate and former Horn Ambassador Lilly Checkoff began her start in entrepreneurship at a very young age. With her non-profit Tools For School, she provided thousands of backpacks and school supplies for underprivileged children. This non-profit guided and inspired her to surround herself with all things business once accepted as a University of Delaware freshman. Through her time at UD, she became heavily involved with Horn's different programs and excelled as a responsible student of entrepreneurial leadership. Now, as a 2022 graduate, Lilly aims to make the world her own and use her background in entrepreneurship to guide her. 

This article is part of a series celebrating the 10^th anniversary of Horn Entrepreneurship by highlighting alumni, their stories and accomplishments.  

Back in 2012, when Ben Rapkin took his first entrepreneurship class, instructor Dan Freeman, the founding director of Horn Entrepreneurship, asked him to restart the Entrepreneurship Club.