Bringing Home the Bucks from National Entrepreneurs Competition
April 23, 2018
We reported recently that business management majors
William Turano ’18 and Tal 
Granot ’18 had been chosen to compete in this year’s prestigious Schulze Entrepreneurship Challenge, to pitch their start-up business, Lifted Roots Vertical Farms, at e-Fest 2018.
Now we’re happy to report Turano won second place in the Innovation Challenge, and brought home a $2,500 cash prize.
Competing in the “Waste” category with teams from three other institutions, Turano had to apply principles of entrepreneurship and innovation to address the growing challenges of managing – reducing, reusing, recycling, re-purposing – materials that otherwise make it into the waste stream. The team convinced judges to invest in their venture.
“As faculty advisor, I’m very proud of William and Tal’s achievement to compete and win at a national competition among students from many top universities around the country,” said Dr. Jing Betty Feng, assistant professor of business management.
Lifted Roots Vertical Farms, founded by Turano in 2017, is a service that provides a hydroponic agricultural system that is versatile, mobile, and sustainable, to meet the consumer demand for farm-to-table foods. The system grows food responsibly and sustainably to reduce the environmental impact of food production. The indoor farm uses 95% less water compared to traditional farms and is an almost carbon-neutral operation.
