On Monday, Nov. 10, 2025, Michigan State University's Women in Entrepreneurship organization hosted their seventh annual Pitch Competition. The MSUWE Pitch Competition gives young female entrepreneurs at MSU the opportunity to compete to have their businesses funded.
“The whole purpose behind the event is to give women founders a chance to comfortably practice pitching as well as earning some early funding for their businesses,” MSUWE president Yuktha Pulavarthi said.
At this year's competition, nine MSU students pitched their ideas to a panel of three judges, chosen by Pulavarthi, in hopes of winning either the first place prize of $2,000, the second place prize of $1,000 or the third place prize of $500 to put toward their businesses. The panel of judges consisted of female founders and managers who have a passion for female-owned small businesses and participated in the event to support young, enthusiastic women entrepreneurs.
“Today we have Chelsie Wyse, a founder of her own marketing company based in Grand Rapids, Christina Fair who is the founder of two companies, Reconnect as well as Hum, and then we have Anum Mughal, she works at MSU Research Foundation,” Pulavarthi said. “All of them are women. We have a few women founders and a few that are just really involved in the community, but we try to make sure that they have a wide variety of backgrounds.”
As each of the nine MSU students pitched their ideas to the panel, the judges listened and asked follow-up questions about the future of their ideas that were not addressed in the allotted five minute time slots. Judges also provided advice on how they can improve their business models moving forward in their careers.
After the pitches concluded and judges deliberated, three winners were chosen. The top prize went to third-year advertisement management student Kaleah-Aleizer Valera for LZR, an energy drink with added protein. Second place went to third-year computer engineering student Sadie Latragna’s Pipper and third place went to fourth-year computer science student Prijam Khanal with SheVinci.
Although the Pitch Competition is a major component of MSUWE, there is a wide range of other experiences that applies to any woman in business.
“We have weekly meetings on Monday nights where we might bring in guest speakers and pick their brain about their journey,” Pulavarthi said. “We also do workshops around building a business, we do marketing workshops, financial production workshops and even pitching workshops, we also just do general bonding activities to get a tighter knit women entrepreneur community at MSU.”
MSUWE is all about female empowerment and whether that is through pitching and prizes or simply having a craft night to connect with one another, it is an essential organization to this campus community.
“Women in Entrepreneurship is all about creating a space where women can connect, collaborate, and gain the confidence to bring their ideas to life,” Pulavarthi said.
Photography by Sloane Barlow