Tolu Ojesina and her company Modaheadwraps took home Project Pitch It’s $10,000 prize for the company’s two-piece, satin-lined headwraps adorned with African prints.
The satin-lined cotton wraps, made by Nigerian seamstresses, include two pieces – a bonnet-style piece with an elastic band and a long ribbon-style piece for tying. The wraps come in eight different patterns representing a variety of countries in Africa, Ojesina said.
“A lot of our customers want to reconnect with the African motherland and wear the fabrics that we wear, but they do not know the first thing about headwraps,” said Ojesina.
Moda’s wraps sell for $55 each and are primarily marketed to college-educated Black women, a demographic the company said is more likely to have been exposed to African history through higher education. Ojesina plans to expand into more markets, however, including people experiencing hair loss from cancer treatments.
Balanced Breed
Jeremy Schulz was awarded Project Pitch It’s $4,500 prize for his company Balanced Breed, a pet supplements brand for dogs and cats made with filler-free, non-GMO, all natural ingredients.
Balanced Breed’s portfolio includes multivitamins, probiotics and vitamin supplements with active ingredients like vitamins B, C and E as well as folic acid. Each jar contains roughly 60 soft chews, retailing for $22-$32 per container.
Balanced Breed is the only veterinarian pharmacist-endorsed pet supplements in the industry, Schulz said.
The company has already brought in $3.25 million since its inception in 2021. Its products are available online through Amazon and its own website, as well as at Kroger, Walmart and CVS stores. Next steps for the company include expanding its portfolio to include other non-GMO, natural products like shampoos.
“The natural food market is just so expensive,” he said. “For an extra dollar a day for the supplement business, our cold-pressed vitamins really play a role there.”
Captain Quesadilla
Kevin Leurquin and his company Captain Quesadilla, a community-focused food truck, took home $1,000 from Project Pitch It.
Captain Quesadilla doubles as a food truck and community education resource. Founder Leurquin takes the truck to events and schools in the community and talks with students about social values like kindness, compassion, integrity and gratitude, which also serve as names for menu items like the barbecue chicken quesadilla (gratitude) or the chicken, bacon ranch quesadilla (compassion).
Captain Quesadilla offers an activity book containing its core values, sold separately from purchase of a food item.
“Our mission is to develop a curriculum and be in schools,” Leurquin said.
BizTimes is the media partner for Project Pitch It, a local TV show similar to ABC’s “Shark Tank,” now in its 10th season. Project Pitch It episodes are available for streaming on the Very Local app.
