Stories & Updates

Republished with permission from the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, who originally published the content here: https://lerner.udel.edu/seeing-opportunity/friends-to-founders/. The “Blue Hens of a Feather” series highlights students and alumni of the University of Delaware’s Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics who “flock together” with fellow Blue Hens to launch successful business ventures. Read on for the story of two friends who started their company while at UD and have remained true to their Blue Hens origins as they’ve expanded.

Sarah Robb O’Hagan, the founder of Extreme You, received the 2019 Siegfried Award for Entrepreneurial Leadership on Oct. 12 at the Hotel DuPont in Wilmington, DE. O’Hagan, a native of New Zealand, donated the $10,000 honorarium to Friends of AUT, a charity in connection with the Auckland University of Technology.

After deeply exploring the tech space on his entrepreneurial journey, Jonathan Wood, Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, Class of 2019, discovered his true unique value. The recent graduate emphasized his own tech and entrepreneurial capabilities to land a full-time tech role within PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a Big Four public accounting firm with more than 250,000 global employees.

The days are getting shorter and classes are now in full swing! The start of the semester is always a time of transition, regardless of whether you’re a wide-eyed freshman or a grizzled senior. Implementing strong practices and mindsets early in your semester will help you get the most out of your time on campus. 

Entrepreneurs are defined by risk-taking and initiative, and Entrepreneurship majors Meredith Ackerson, Class of 2020, and Mason Faust, Class of 2022, are no exception to this rule. Meredith, around the Horn Entrepreneurship community since her first year on campus, wanted a place for students to read all the books the speakers and local business leaders recommended to students. Now in her final year, Meredith has made her idea a reality with the new VDC Lending Library.

University of Delaware Alfred Lerner College of Business & Economics and Horn Entrepreneurship announce recipients of the 2019 Blue Hen 17&43 Awards, which recognize University of Delaware students and alumni who have founded or led promising new ventures and fast growing companies. Fifty-one businesses will receive the honor.

The Summer Founders teams convened one last time on Tuesday, August 20, at the Venture Development Center for the 2019 Demo Day. The eight startup teams worked diligently all summer on their respective ventures, and each was able to showcase that hard work through their individual presentations. Along with the Summer Founders teams, the Venture Development Center was filled with potential investors, UD alumni, and other members of the Horn Entrepreneurship community.

Summer Founders, now almost three-quarters of the way through its 11-week programming, has already provided participating student ventures with valuable lessons on their entrepreneurial journey. The Horn Entrepreneurship marketing team caught up with a few of the student founders last month, and checked back in for more updates from July.

It took 27 years for Michael Friedenberg, President of News and Media Operations for Reuters, an international news organization, to return to UD for a visit. The Entrepreneurship Club, a student-run organization supported by Horn Entrepreneurship, invites entrepreneurial alumni and community members to share their insights with students on a weekly basis during Free Lunch Friday. Michael shared Reuters’ views on freedom of the press in international spaces and why factual based reporting is important.

ChaCha Hudson started The SEWcial Cafe, a community sewing space for women to create, collaborate, and develop handmade products in a relaxed and inspiring environment that encourages innovation with in October 2018. Now almost a year on from launching, and ChaCha wants to bring her unique value of sewing expertise with strong community building practices to other women across the world.