BYU-Hawaii hosted the Great Ideas competition from Nov. 16 to 17, where students presented their ideas through video and public speaking. Judges shared personal experiences, struggles and advice on how to have successful businesses despite failure.
Benoy Tamang, BYUH alumnus and CEO of eFileCabinet, told students winning the competition was not a measure of their success because he has seen ideas that didn’t seem good at first eventually turn into fabulous businesses. “Don’t listen to people. Don’t listen to even the faculty [or] us. We are probably wrong. In the end if you truly believe it, you will ram rod it and you will be successful.”
Athelia Woolley LeSuer, a fashion designer from New York and CEO of Shabby Apple, said, “It’s okay to fail. Entrepreneurs fail nine times out of 10.” When asked what keeps her inspired throughout those nine failures, she responded, “The one win. The potential of the one win.”
Fredo Solar is another BYUH alumni, and founder of Bucareli Chocolate in Mexico City. He said when he was a student, he participated in the competition almost every year and made it into the finals when he was a freshman.
He said the conference gave him the practice and confidence he needed. He also looked up to the businessmen and women who judged the conferences, and collected a stack of their business cards to stay in contact with many of them. “Students who are not here are wasting the opportunity to mingle with people who have been successful,” he added.
Along with diligence and endurance, all the judges said it is important to keep life in balance. Tamang described spending hours of church, family, plane rides, and work as being quite hectic if he did not prioritize his life. “It’s like putting an oxygen mask on yourself first. If you don’t do that, you are going to spiral out of control; and how can you help anybody else? You’ve got to keep that oxygen mask on and keep your life in balance.”
Before presenting the winners of the competition, BYU-Hawaii Pres. John Tanner stood and gave closing remarks for the competition. He advised the students to not forget the Lord as they strive to fulfill their dreams and businesses. “Along with your genius and talent, good luck, good fortune and work, I would encourage you to remember your covenants in whatever you do.”
Solar also expressed the importance of keeping the Lord in your mind always. “I pray a lot. Things can be really hard. I just pray and ask for help. It’s not about us, it’s about who we are helping and what we want to build. It’s something bigger than myself.”
All the judges said they were impressed with the students who competed. “I can’t believe how mature they are,” said Tamang, “They have plans and their one-minute elevator pitches down. You can tell they practiced.”
Rich Raddon, co-founder and co-CEO of ZEFR, added, “People in general are innately creative. We like to create and build. I think we get that from our Heavenly Father. When you act upon that and are a part of creating something, there is a lot of satisfaction in that.”
During the last portion of the competition, Raddon shared one time he was laughed out of the room when he tried to strike a partnership with YouTube. He was able to land the deal on the flight home when he ran into an old acquaintance who worked for YouTube. “Failure is not an option. Don’t be afraid to fail, and if you are going to fail, fail fast; but go for it with everything you’ve got.”
Writer: Kelsy Simmons