The United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC) Foundation is excited to highlight the 2017 BizVenture Scholarship awardees Donte Houston, Lauren Welch, and Bradley Ritschel. The students were recognized at the Omni Hotel Dallas on October 3rd during the BizVenture Reception at the USHCC National Convention.

The three awardees competed for three and a half days in the USHCC Foundation’s BizVenture Collegiate Entrepreneurship program for scholarships. These individuals executed the three best business pitches out of a competitive group of twenty young entrepreneurs from colleges and universities throughout the state of Texas. A flagship initiative of the USHCC Foundation, BizVenture engages with young entrepreneurs by providing educational resources and support for their future business endeavors.

Learn more about our 2017 BizVenture scholarship awardees and their winning pitches below!

Donte Houston

Donte Houston is a strong entrepreneurial professional, completing his Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) focused in Philosophy from Southwestern University. A Marine Veteran and experienced Chief Executive Officer with a demonstrated history of working in government administration, Donte Houston is skilled in intelligence, government, operational planning, and tactics.

DriveVoya is a technology company that marries safe driving with educational funding by incentivizing attentive and responsible driving. School Districts sign up for Voya. Insurance companies, vendors, and relevant stakeholders, in turn, sponsor their district(s) of choice, by pledging a specific amount in sponsorship. Faculty and students, then “earn” these funds for the district by accumulating SafeMiles within the Voya app. Voya provides data analytics while collecting a 20%​ platform fee for each fundraiser hosted.

Lauren Welch

Lauren Welch is a senior majoring in Business Administration and concentrating in Management at St. Edwards University. She is an alum of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Global Entrepreneurship Bootcamp and a Co-Founder of a global digital healthcare company. Lauren Welch grew up in south Austin. Her father, a recovering drug and alcohol addict, spent the majority of his adulthood incarcerated, and at the age of 16, she worked 40 hours a week to contribute to the family’s household income. Lauren created stability when there was none, and with the guidance of teachers and mentors, she found a path that fit with her experiences and skill set.

Xephahealth is a digital healthcare company that looks to increases access to high quality medical care in resource constrained settings. They do so by providing a simplified mobile-first EMR (electronic medical record) that focuses on user experience and high fidelity record keeping. Our target market is Kenya, this is because of the overwhelming presence of traditional paper record keeping in clinical settings and overall mobile adaption in the country.

Bradley Ritschel

Brad Ritschel is a sophomore McDermott Scholar, one of the most selective merit awards in the nation, at The University of Texas at Dallas, double majoring in Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering. He Co-Founded Myelife Solutions, a biotech startup that aims to treat multiple sclerosis through gene editing. Prior to winning third place at BizVenutre, he pitched in the Seattle regional finals of the TigerLaunch pitch competition, and are currently conducting research in the Advanced Cellular Engineering Lab at UT Dallas. In the future, Bradley hopes to live at the intersection of entrepreneurship and engineering, using technology to solve the world’s most pressing challenges.

Myelife Solutions is a biotech startup based out of the University of Texas at Dallas, which aims to treat multiple sclerosis through gene editing. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease of the central nervous system where the immune system mistakenly attacks myelin, the covering of neurons that are essential to signal transmission throughout the body. Myelife Solutions, under the direction of Dr. Eric Kildebeck, are using CRISPR/ Cas9 gene editing to modify T cells and treat MS.

Thank you to our 2017 BizVenture participants for completing our premier program and congratulations to our 2017 awardees!

A special thank you to Bank of America for sponsoring the BizVenture Collegiate Entrepreneurship Program!

Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter and stay updated on the latest USHCC Foundation programming. For questions and additional information on BizVenture, please contact Lucero Piña at lpina@ushccf.org.

About The USHCC Foundation

The USHCC Foundation is the philanthropic and educational arm of the USHCC. The mission of the USHCC Foundation is to enrich experiences of current and future leaders in the world of business through life-long learning and support. The Foundation’s initiatives awaken and nurture the entrepreneurial spirit, support business growth, strengthen local chambers and foster leaders.

About The BizVenture Collegiate Entrepreneurship Program

The BizVenture Collegiate Entrepreneurship program is the USHCC Foundation’s premier program to spur the entrepreneurial spirit in college students. This program, presented in collaboration with the George Washington University, allowed college and university students from Texas to learn how to take an idea and turn it into a potential business during an all-expenses paid, three and a half day scholarship program, all while becoming part of the USHCC Foundation network.