Whiteboard Challenge Winner Announced
Solutions that make life easier for people was the theme of the three Innovation Whiteboard Challenge finalists who presented their ideas in the NBMBAA® Whiteboard Challenge®. With only five minutes to make their pitches, Kenneth White Jr. with KleanCollar, Tiffany Smith with Tiltas and Camille Newman with Pop-Up Plus, wowed the audience with their creative, out-of-the-box thinking to address specific needs in different arenas. The winner, announced at the NBMBAA® Impact Awards Friday night was Camille Newman. Pop-Up Plus Newman’s company sells edgy, contemporary apparel for plus-size women ages 25 to 44 online and with Pop-Up shops. The company generated $100,000 in sales in 2015. Eighty percent of the business is online. "Plus size women represent 67 percent of the population. Six out of 10 women wear a 16 and it’s the new normal. Our advantage is we "deliver the trend apparel by focusing on social fashions, like a hot date and birthdays," she said. Clothing, sourced from LA vendors and designed in-house, comes in sizes up to 5X. The company has developed a community for plus-size women, building their confidence, offering webinars and workshops and "celebrating the beauty of them." KleanCollar Kenneth White Jr. asked the audience to imagine a dirt-free collar. That’s what you get with White’s eco-friendly product, which is made of clear silicon and extends the wearability life of shirt collars for men, women and children. The product covers the rim and interior of the shirt. "On average a family will spend more than $3,000 on dry cleaning costs" and KleanCollar, which comes in a pack of three for $17.99, saves money. To date, there have been $25,000 in presales from the website and White is in negotiations with three major retail stores. The product is also provisionally trademarked. Initially he developed the product for men, but his wife said women need it too because makeup can ruin a shirt. Tiltas Tiffany Smith’s business, which is in the early stages of development, vets and matches men leaving prison with construction jobs. Every year 650,000 men are released and construction jobs are plentiful because of the high turnover rate. The average age of a worker is 51, she said. "I want to change the demographics of hiring," she said, adding many of the formerly incarcerated men will return to prison because of a lack of employment opportunities. The plan is to partner with nonprofits to find subcontractors who need the talent. Tax credits come with hiring the men. "We hope the $10,000 will help us build out a web-based platform." |
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