Applications are open through October 20 for The Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA), the premier global competition for students who own and operate a business while attending college or university. Nominees compete against their peers from around the world in a series of local and/or national competitions in hopes to qualify for GSEA Finals. Syracuse University LaunchPad students AJ Damiano ’18, founder of PowerSpike, Kayla Simon ’19, co-founder of In-Spire, Quinn King ’20, co-founder of MedUX and Nikita Chatterjee ’20, co-founder of PAANI, and Shawn Gaetano ’21 were all GSEA winners of significant cash prizes. When applying, be sure to specify the Western New York Competition.
This year’s U.S. — Western NY regional competition will be held in person November 11 in Buffalo. Winner goes on the national competition.
The LaunchPad team can help you prepare for the competition, which works like this:
Step One: You must be an undergraduate or graduate college/university student with a company that has been operating for at least 6 months with at least $500 in generated revenue.
Step Two: Apply and compete in a regional competition. Syracuse University participates in the U.S. — Western NY region, so be sure to select that as your region.
Step Three: Win a regional competition and advance to the national competition.
Step Four: Win a national competition and advance to the GSEA Finals with 50 of the world’s best student entrepreneurs
Step Five: Win the global award, become the EO GSEA Student Champion and receive recognition and accolades.
With more than 1,700 competitors from over 30 countries each year, GSEA is an exclusive opportunity for student entrepreneurs to make connections, find resources, and grow their businesses. It is sponsored by The Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), a global business network of 13,000+ leading entrepreneurs in 160 global chapters. EO offers resources in the form of global events, leadership-development programs, peer-to-peer learning, an online entrepreneur forum, executive education opportunities, and connections to experts.