Babson College has just announced the list of Babson businesses that will receive entrepreneurial support this fall through the John E. and Alice L. Butler Venture Accelerator’s Hatchery program. The Hatcheries work like business incubators, giving student entrepreneurs semiprivate and professional workspace to grow their business in the presence of other companies. While in the Hatcheries, students also have access to visiting entrepreneurs, executives-in-residence, and faculty who can help entrepreneurs grow their business. The student businesses are awarded space in the Hatcheries for a term, and to earn the space they have to go through an application process.
This year, five MBA student businesses were selected to be part of the Hatcheries. Lei Wang MBA’13’s business, Photo Oil, offers customers the chance to turn beloved photos into “museum quality art.” Grandma Lena’s, run by Daniela Bahamonde MBA ’14, is a specialty food company selling gluten-free products. Plaiding, a company founded by Jorge Alvarez MBA ’14 offers social causes an advertisement network. Paul Hammond, MBA ’14 organized Startup Rounds, which provides a chance for startup companies to compete for capital, recognition, and customers. The final business, Salamander’s Energy Solutions, was founded by Alfredo Gago MBA’12, CAM’14, to provide a way to charge a variety of technological devices in public spaces.
The Hatcheries are just one of many opportunities provided to Babson entrepreneurs by the John E. and Alice L. Butler Venture Accelerator Program. Other programs include the Summer Venture Program, a ten week summer intensive intended to develop the businesses of the most promising undergraduate and MBA entrepreneurs, and the Babson Entrepreneurial Thought and Action (B.E.T.A) challenge, a competition that provides cash prizes to businesses for achieving major milestones in their development.
