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Abrams 1st Place

Catching Up with Last Year's Abrams Sustainable Business Challenge Winners

Story by Mars Reilly

The School of Environmental Sustainability and the Baumhart Center for Social Enterprise and Responsibility are gearing up for the second annual Abrams Sustainable Business Challenge, an entrepreneurial competition available to all Loyola students. To give potential competitors an idea of the opportunities afforded by this challenge, we checked in with last year’s winners to see how their sustainable business ventures are progressing.

First Place Winners: TIKAL

Loyola undergraduates Tayyaba Ali, Megan Yamauchi, and Kasandra Lee won first prize in the 2022 Abrams Sustainable Business Challenge.

To enter the competition, teams proposed an original idea for a sustainable business venture or product, submitting three-minute pitch videos as well as executive summaries outlining their goals and abilities. As the challenge progressed over its three-month run, competitors found themselves supported both inside and outside Loyola by a myriad of sources that helped them develop their idea as well as their entrepreneurial, business, and interpersonal skillsets. This included opportunities to take classes with professors at the Schools of Environmental Sustainability and Quinlan School of Business, access to extra-curricular workshops, and connections with mentors across the Chicago area with backgrounds in fields such as entrepreneurship, sustainability, marketing and business, technology, and more. 

According to the creators of the Challenge, the Baumhart Center and SES were motivated to create an interdisciplinary competition that would start students thinking more broadly about solutions to environmental problems. “We wanted them to get excited about working together across fields to address the crises we’re facing right now,” Sarah Hokenmaier, director of strategy and planning at SES, explained. “We want students from different academic programs to find a common purpose.”

Six teams participated in a pitch competition on Earth Day, April 22, 2022.

After a first round of elimination carried out by a panel of judges from across the Chicago fields of business and sustainability, the finalists moved on to the second round of competition. Six final teams competed for the last time on April 22 of this year in a pitch competition that included a 10-minute business presentation followed by a Q&A session with a second judging panel. First place winners received $20,000 in funding, the second place team won $15,000, and third place $10,000, all provided by our generous sponsors and namesakes of the challenge Wendy and Jim Abrams. Along with this startup fund, the top teams received support from Loyola’s Ignite Lab and entry into 1871, a renowned entrepreneurial organization that serves as an incubator for Chicago businesses and would help winners further develop their ventures.

Tayyaba Ali, Megan Yamauchi, and Kasandra Lee pitched their idea for a biodegradable water filter.

Loyola undergraduates Tayyaba Ali, Megan Yamauchi, and Kasandra Lee won first prize in the competition for TIKAL, which they describe as a “biodegradable disaster-resilient water filter composed of low environmental impact materials.” It will be available for preorder in November  to provide of clean water in areas of low water quality or in disaster relief situations. It is the first product of its kind to be completely biodegradable and made with low-impact materials. Some of the most impressive features of the filter are that it is portable and self-powering from a solar inlay, allowing for its use in emergency situations. It’s also the only filter of its kind—that is, biodegradable and sustainably made—that is capable of filtering microorganisms, chemicals, and metals all at once. Most water bottle filters on the market today only target one or two of these categories instead of all of them.

According to the founders, the idea for TIKAL didn’t come together right away. Yamauchi and Ali met at the Abrams kickoff event last year, and they described their process for creating a disaster-resistant device as involving “a lot of pivots.” Through a long workshopping period, the team decided that they wanted to specifically focus on water filtration. Megan Yamauchi explained that some of this motivation came from an environmental science course she was taking at the time. Likewise, a manmade water crisis in her home state of Hawaii was influential in her and the group’s decision to create a filter that would be viable in disaster situations as well as for daily use.

Following their presentation, the TIKAL team members answered questions from a panel of judges.

For TIKAL’s creators, the challenge was a great starting point for their business venture as Ali points out that “in four months, we were able to create something that would’ve normally taken a year without the Abrams challenge.” As a biophysics major not previously involved with social ventures, Ali was hesitant to go into entrepreneurship and business, but she says that the Abrams Challenge and her teammates inspired her. “Oftentimes, social ventures can have a gentrified view of helping communities, so we wanted to instead place a huge emphasis on human-centered design for our product,” she explained. To do this, Ali and Yamauchi committed to making in-person visits to the communities where they wanted to work so they could see firsthand the success of the solution they were proposing. TIKAL’s first pilot program, for example, was conducted in Flint, Michigan, after Ali visited and concluded that the water bottle was a good fit for the lifestyle of the city’s residents.

Tayyaba Ali and Megan Yamauchi continue to pursue their business venture with support from the School of Environmental Sustainability, Baumhart, Quinlan School of Business, and 1871.  

Since winning the challenge, Ali and Yamauchi continue to work with the School of Environmental Sustainability, Baumhart center and Quinlan School of Business as well as 1871.  TIKAL’s founders said this ongoing support has been helpful as they navigate the hurdles involved in creating a startup. In fact, 1871 recently extended their scholarship and invited them to join their Women Tech Founders program this fall, an exciting opportunity that will help them continue to grow as a business.

TIKAL currently employs several current or former Loyola students in engineering and administrative capacities, including some students who have been able to use their internships to earn credit toward their degrees in engineering or entrepreneurship. This is especially exciting and encouraging to hear as TIKAL continues to grow as a social venture.

The team’s advice for someone looking to enter the challenge, work on a startup, or launch a social venture mostly involves keeping up your passion for the endeavor. “Businesses are not grown in a day,” Yamauchi says, “and social ventures especially require commitment and passion to keep them going. You have to understand that it’s going to be a challenge.” Ali adds that it’s important to foster communication with the people who will benefit from your work, to “prioritize conversations with your customers to find out how best to solve the problems that they’re experiencing.”  

Ali and Yamauchi also advise doing your own water quality tests to keep your families and communities safe. To Loyola students, they encourage supporting your peers who are doing this kind of entrepreneurial work. “There are a lot of Loyola students who have startups that you might not know about,” Yamauchi says. “Don’t be afraid to talk to people about what they’re doing and how you can support them.”

Learn more

Challenge Hosts

About the Abrams Challenge

Catching Up with Last Year's Abrams Sustainable Business Challenge Winners

Story by Mars Reilly

The School of Environmental Sustainability and the Baumhart Center for Social Enterprise and Responsibility are gearing up for the second annual Abrams Sustainable Business Challenge, an entrepreneurial competition available to all Loyola students. To give potential competitors an idea of the opportunities afforded by this challenge, we checked in with last year’s winners to see how their sustainable business ventures are progressing.

First Place Winners: TIKAL

To enter the competition, teams proposed an original idea for a sustainable business venture or product, submitting three-minute pitch videos as well as executive summaries outlining their goals and abilities. As the challenge progressed over its three-month run, competitors found themselves supported both inside and outside Loyola by a myriad of sources that helped them develop their idea as well as their entrepreneurial, business, and interpersonal skillsets. This included opportunities to take classes with professors at the Schools of Environmental Sustainability and Quinlan School of Business, access to extra-curricular workshops, and connections with mentors across the Chicago area with backgrounds in fields such as entrepreneurship, sustainability, marketing and business, technology, and more. 

According to the creators of the Challenge, the Baumhart Center and SES were motivated to create an interdisciplinary competition that would start students thinking more broadly about solutions to environmental problems. “We wanted them to get excited about working together across fields to address the crises we’re facing right now,” Sarah Hokenmaier, director of strategy and planning at SES, explained. “We want students from different academic programs to find a common purpose.”

After a first round of elimination carried out by a panel of judges from across the Chicago fields of business and sustainability, the finalists moved on to the second round of competition. Six final teams competed for the last time on April 22 of this year in a pitch competition that included a 10-minute business presentation followed by a Q&A session with a second judging panel. First place winners received $20,000 in funding, the second place team won $15,000, and third place $10,000, all provided by our generous sponsors and namesakes of the challenge Wendy and Jim Abrams. Along with this startup fund, the top teams received support from Loyola’s Ignite Lab and entry into 1871, a renowned entrepreneurial organization that serves as an incubator for Chicago businesses and would help winners further develop their ventures.

Loyola undergraduates Tayyaba Ali, Megan Yamauchi, and Kasandra Lee won first prize in the competition for TIKAL, which they describe as a “biodegradable disaster-resilient water filter composed of low environmental impact materials.” It will be available for preorder in November  to provide of clean water in areas of low water quality or in disaster relief situations. It is the first product of its kind to be completely biodegradable and made with low-impact materials. Some of the most impressive features of the filter are that it is portable and self-powering from a solar inlay, allowing for its use in emergency situations. It’s also the only filter of its kind—that is, biodegradable and sustainably made—that is capable of filtering microorganisms, chemicals, and metals all at once. Most water bottle filters on the market today only target one or two of these categories instead of all of them.

According to the founders, the idea for TIKAL didn’t come together right away. Yamauchi and Ali met at the Abrams kickoff event last year, and they described their process for creating a disaster-resistant device as involving “a lot of pivots.” Through a long workshopping period, the team decided that they wanted to specifically focus on water filtration. Megan Yamauchi explained that some of this motivation came from an environmental science course she was taking at the time. Likewise, a manmade water crisis in her home state of Hawaii was influential in her and the group’s decision to create a filter that would be viable in disaster situations as well as for daily use.

For TIKAL’s creators, the challenge was a great starting point for their business venture as Ali points out that “in four months, we were able to create something that would’ve normally taken a year without the Abrams challenge.” As a biophysics major not previously involved with social ventures, Ali was hesitant to go into entrepreneurship and business, but she says that the Abrams Challenge and her teammates inspired her. “Oftentimes, social ventures can have a gentrified view of helping communities, so we wanted to instead place a huge emphasis on human-centered design for our product,” she explained. To do this, Ali and Yamauchi committed to making in-person visits to the communities where they wanted to work so they could see firsthand the success of the solution they were proposing. TIKAL’s first pilot program, for example, was conducted in Flint, Michigan, after Ali visited and concluded that the water bottle was a good fit for the lifestyle of the city’s residents.

Since winning the challenge, Ali and Yamauchi continue to work with the School of Environmental Sustainability, Baumhart center and Quinlan School of Business as well as 1871.  TIKAL’s founders said this ongoing support has been helpful as they navigate the hurdles involved in creating a startup. In fact, 1871 recently extended their scholarship and invited them to join their Women Tech Founders program this fall, an exciting opportunity that will help them continue to grow as a business.

TIKAL currently employs several current or former Loyola students in engineering and administrative capacities, including some students who have been able to use their internships to earn credit toward their degrees in engineering or entrepreneurship. This is especially exciting and encouraging to hear as TIKAL continues to grow as a social venture.

The team’s advice for someone looking to enter the challenge, work on a startup, or launch a social venture mostly involves keeping up your passion for the endeavor. “Businesses are not grown in a day,” Yamauchi says, “and social ventures especially require commitment and passion to keep them going. You have to understand that it’s going to be a challenge.” Ali adds that it’s important to foster communication with the people who will benefit from your work, to “prioritize conversations with your customers to find out how best to solve the problems that they’re experiencing.”  

Ali and Yamauchi also advise doing your own water quality tests to keep your families and communities safe. To Loyola students, they encourage supporting your peers who are doing this kind of entrepreneurial work. “There are a lot of Loyola students who have startups that you might not know about,” Yamauchi says. “Don’t be afraid to talk to people about what they’re doing and how you can support them.”

Learn more

Challenge Hosts

About the Abrams Challenge