CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS OF THE

2025 WARHAWK NEW VENTURES CHALLENGE

1st Place Winner: NoteLinkAI

2nd Place Winner: Healing Forward Solutions

3rd Place Winner: Pelican Delivery

Elevator Pitch Winner: Healing Forward Solutions

Powered by the ULM College of Business & Social Sciences

and EAP – A Division of BRF

The University of Louisiana Monroe College of Business and Social Sciences, in partnership with EAP, developed the Warhawk New Ventures Challenge to:

Promote and support college students in their entrepreneurial endeavors and new venture creations
Encourage commercialization of promising ideas emerging from ULM
Build bridges between ULM students, ULM itself, and the NELA entrepreneurship community
Incentivize and assist student preparation for state and national level business plan and pitch competitions like the Entrepreneurship Pelican Cup https://www.ulm.edu/pelicancup/

The competition is open only to ULM students registered in Fall 2025 classes, regardless of major or field of study. Students from other universities, ULM alumni, staff, faculty, or professionals are not eligible.

Overview

The Warhawk New Ventures Challenge is a Northeast Louisiana entrepreneurial and business development program. The competition's main goal is to promote opportunities for real-world education in entrepreneurship and boost awareness and innovation commercialization in the NELA region.

The initiative is sponsored by the Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program (EAP), which is a division of BRF. EAP's mission is to develop the entrepreneurial ecosystem in North Louisiana. All events will be held at the University of Louisiana Monroe Campus.

Why Participate?

Student participants will have opportunities to receive coaching from industry experts and build camaraderie with other entrepreneurially minded individuals.

If you have an idea for a product, service, or new technology that could be transformed into a scalable business, you are strongly encouraged to apply. Apart from sharpening your business and financial acumen, the competition will also provide:

A chance to win cash prizes that you may use any way you see fit including investing into your startup
Learn to think like a boss via real world experience in the startup and capital raising process
Build your networking and business collaboration skills with industry experts and seasoned entrepreneurs
Develop soft and hard skills that make you more appealing in the job marketplace
Learn what it takes to be a business winner
Get valuable feedback and experience to be more competitive in other business plan and pitch competitions

Prizes

The top 3 finalists will be awarded cash prizes.

1st Place (Winner) - $3,000

2nd Place (Runner up) - $1,000

3rd Place (Runner up) - $500

Elevator Pitch Competition Winner

$250

Key Policies

Application Fees

$0 - FREE. There are no application fees.

Eligibility & Student Enrollment

Applicants and all team members must be currently enrolled as a student at ULM in the Fall 2025 semester. Students may only participate on ONE (1) Warhawk New Ventures Challenge team.

Enrollment Verification

All team applicants must provide their ULM email address and Campus Wide Identification (CWID)number in the Initial Application and Final Deliverables Package submission for eligibility verification purposes. Other information will be requested as well.

Team Size

ULM students must apply as teams of 1 to 4 students. Ideally, teams should consist of students from different academic disciplines. Teams with wide skillsets tend to do better in business plan competitions. Though it is not required, we do recommend that at least one person on the team be a business major or have some business experience.

Key Events and Dates

Registration Window

From Sept, 22, 2025 at 12:00 Noon to October 5, 2025 at 11:59 PM

To get an invitation and guaranteed access to the Business Development Workshop, please register no later than 1:30 PM on October 1, 2025.

Click here to access the Registration Page

Business Idea and Team Formation Mixer

Tuesday, September 30, 2025 from 10:15 AM to 11:30 AM in the Hemphill Hall Lobby

Share Ideas and Brainstorm
Find Teammates
Find Pelican Cup Faculty Advisors

Business Development Workshop

Oct. 2, 2025 at 9:30 AM

Online and Hemphill 124

Deadline for Late Registration

Oct. 5, 2025 at 11:59 PM

Click here to access the Registration Page

Final Deliverables Package

Oct. 26 at 11:59 PM

Click Here to access the Submissions Page

Finalists Announced

Nov. 7, 2025 at 12:00 Noon

College of Business and Social Science Facebook Page

Finalists Workshop

Nov. 11, 2025, 9:30 to 10:45 AM

Hemphill 124

Revised Deliverables – Finalists Only

Nov. 16, 2025 at 11:59 PM

Revised Deliverables shall be submitted via email to newventureschallenge@ulm.edu

Final Pitch Competition

Nov. 18, 2025, 9:00 to 11:30 AM

The Terrace

Elevator Pitch Competition and Awards Ceremony

Nov. 18, 2025, 1:00 to 2:00 PM