EngenuitySC, an economic development organization headquartered in Columbia, hosted Ignite! at the USC Alumni Center Wednesday evening.
The nonprofit organization focuses on enhancing economic competitiveness and prosperity in the Midlands. In partnership with business, government and education leaders, EngenuitySC specializes in regional collaboration, project management and bringing local business projects to life.
Wednesday’s celebration highlighted the economic competitiveness in the region. The evening was hosted by the three co-chairs of EngenuitySC's board: Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin, USC President Harris Pastides and Keith Shah, assistant vice president of corporate planning and strategic services at BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina.
Guests engaged in an evening of networking with business leaders. Following the networking session was the main program, which featured keynote speakers and presentations given by entrepreneurs entered in a $5,000 Ignite! Ideas Contest.
In attendance were young entrepreneurs and up-and-coming innovators. Among those entrepreneurs were Ramone Dickerson and Corey Simmons, founders of 2 Fat 2 Fly — a stuffed chicken wing food truck — and its restaurant counterpart, Wing City. Dickerson and Simmons also served as keynote speakers for the event.
“We’re just trying to make it as big as possible,” Simmons said.
Dickerson and Simmons are now the stars of a reality show on Oprah Winfrey’s television network, OWN.
Other speakers included Dan Lebish, Aflac Inc. executive vice president and chief operating officer, and the co-founders of the Columbia Design League, Adrienne Montare and Tom Savory. Another entrepreneur in attendance was Trey Gordner. Gordner is the founder and chief executive officer of KOIOS, a library software firm.
“We’ve developed a browser extension that searches the library for you. But our goal is much more than that,” Gordner says in his Ignite contest submission video. “We envision a world in which anyone has free and democratic access to all human knowledge.”
Gordner’s software won him $17,500 at USC’s The Proving Ground ceremony on Tuesday evening.
Online voting for the Ideas Contest took place before and during the program. The winner of the contest was Vincent Felix, fourth-year marketing student at USC.
Felix is the founder of Mr. Penguin Designs, a company that empowers artists to design cell phone cases and receive part of the profits. The company’s mission is to help students gain exposure for their work and provide them with residual income.
“We’ve been working our tails off. It’s not just for me anymore,” Felix said. “If we can continue to sell their cases ... maybe that’s an extra hundred bucks for them. That pays for food. Maybe that pays for gas back and forth from a regular job. It’s some way to help.”
Mr. Penguin Designs will use the $5,000 award money to execute their marketing campaign. The company will collaborate with USC student media organizations to create an effective communications campaign to reach their target audiences on campus, in the Midlands and beyond.