University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Entrepreneurship Center (Eship Center) announces its Eship Scholars Inaugural Cohort

Back in September, we wrote about the Kenan-Flagler Entrepreneurship Center (Eship Center) at the University of North Carolina (UNC). The Center creates a better world by inspiring, motivating, and developing entrepreneurial leaders from diverse backgrounds who can recognize opportunities and solve complex problems that lead to positive social change.

Today, the Center announced its Eship Scholars program that provides access to underrepresented and under-resourced student entrepreneurs at the University of North Carolina. The scholar’s program, which is funded through an ecosystem grant from NC IDEA, includes 10 students from diverse backgrounds, all currently working on a startup! Read more about this inaugural class.

The Eship Scholars program was created to celebrate and support students from backgrounds and identities underrepresented in entrepreneurship who display the drive and qualities of a successful entrepreneur, but who may not self-identify as an entrepreneur.

Scholars receive a fellowship award of up to $5,000 which they can use for their business or personal expenses. This support helps students focus on reaching their entrepreneurial goals. This program also connects these high-potential student entrepreneurs with mentorship, coaching, and connections from industry experts. This results in students being able to invest in their own self-development, launch successful careers and/or ventures, and accelerate their entrepreneurial journey on their own unique path.

Below are the profiles of the Inaugural Class of 2020-2021.

Kerstan Nealy

Kerstan is a public policy major, with minors in African studies and medical anthropology. Her company Simply Coils is dedicated to providing quality hair care for individuals with sensitive skin. In her spare time, she enjoys watching movie explanations and reviews.

Cameron Traylor

Cameron is a media and journalism major. He is interested in Eship because it gives him the opportunity to grow his business, his network, and his entrepreneurial skills. A fun fact about Cameron is that he loves listening to classic R&B music.

Xiangyi Li

Xiangyi is a business major with a minor in computer science. She is currently growing two businesses, Jellyfish English Lab and JALI Jewelry. Jellyfish is an English peer tutoring platform that aims to help Chinese college students with the English language while exposing them to American culture. JALI Jewelry offers sustainable jewelry alternatives. Xiangyi loves food and has been working on her cooking skills over quarantine.

Siani Antoine

Siani is a Master of Public Health student concentrating on maternal, child, and family health at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. She founded Bloom Into Womanhood, a wellness space for women of color, which she hopes to grow into a lactation and childbirth education center. In her free time, Siani enjoys designing and creating earrings.

Robbie Tillman

Robbie is a computer science major with an intended business administration minor. He would like to start and grow a platform-based technology company soon, but currently runs a business that facilitates pop-up drive-in movie events on college campuses. Robbie loves to fish and has traveled to nine foreign countries.

Francis Amponsah

Francis is a media and journalism major with a concentration in advertising and public relations and a minor in entrepreneurship. Francis’s love for entrepreneurship was sparked by his mother’s entrepreneurial mindset which was influential in his upbringing as a first-generation child of immigrants. Francis is also a graphic designer and Chance the Rapper liked his rework of the Acid Rap mixtape cover on Twitter.

Sherrod Crum

Sherrod is a business administration major with a social and economic justice minor. He is the founder and CEO of Mission: Scholarship, a nonprofit designed to provide equitable access to college and scholarship preparation resources for disadvantaged students. He is also the co-founder and president of The Black Entrepreneur Initiative at UNC, an organization geared toward cultivating a community for black entrepreneurs, creators, and innovators. He is a vegetarian on the weekdays, but on weekends he enjoys eating junk food and cheering on the New Orleans Saints.

Harshul Makwana

Harshul is a business administration and computer science double major with a passion for exploring how entrepreneurship and technology intersect. He is the co-founder of QUVI, a company that creates water bottle sanitization kiosks using UV-C technology. Harshul likes playing and watching basketball, his teams are the LA Lakers and the Portland Trailblazers.

Aiyana Woldu

Aiyana is a business administration major on the pre-business track with a minor in Shuford Entrepreneurship. She is the founder and owner of Tsanai Tingz LLC, for which she produces hand-crafted resin-based home decor. In her free time, she enjoys reading autobiographies, watching Ted Talks, and doing anything artistic.

Merve Rida Bayraktar

Merve is a computer science major. She is the founder of Pink STREAM, an organization that aims to educate, motivate, empower, and inspire K-8 girls in STREAM (science, technology, robotics, engineering, arts, and math). A fun fact about Merve is that she is interested in art and got into crochet over quarantine.