The 2019 Tufts Food and Entrepreneurship Competition ended in delicious fashion with the inventors of an oat cream desert winning both the audience choice award and the top prize!
Congratulations to the first place winners Team Baravena featuring students Silvia Berciano Benitez, a Doctoral student in the Biochemical and Molecular Nutrition program and Nayla Bezares, a Masters student in the Agriculture, Food and Environment program. They posed with both of their prize winnings alongside the Chair of the Friedman School’s Board of Advisors Trisha Kennealy. Baravena describes their product as an irresistible frozen dessert made with oats that offers delicious flavors that celebrate Latin American cultures, and promises to deliver better nutrition at the lowest possible environmental cost.
Second place prize went to team Sustag4all, a project which featured students from both the Fletcher School and the Friedman School. Their mission is for Sustag4all to become a knowledge, community, and finance platform for sustainable avocados. In Colombia, the peace process is at the post-conflict stage where reintegrados and farmers can lead the world’s $23B avocado market by 2027 and generate positive social and environmental impact.
The CEO, Luis Villegas, is a graduate student at the Fletcher School (International Relations) while Natalia Estrada, co-founder and COO, is a food engineer and human resources management graduate. The team also included the following members: Rockford Weitz, JD, PhD, F02, FG08, Director of Maritime Studies Program at the Fletcher School; Jacquie Kay, PhD; Cesar Augusto, Avocado agronomist in Chile, Peru, Mexico, and Colombia; Jacob Weiss, graduate student at the Friedman School in the Agriculture, Food and Environment program; and Cyrena Thibodeau, graduate student at the Friedman School in the Agriculture, Food and Environment program.
Third prize went to alum Michelle Markesteyn Ratcliffe, PhD, NG08 for her Rootopia project described as a suite of programming where the art, science and fun of raising happy, healthy kids comes together.
Read more about all of the teams on the event page and stay tuned for even more images and follow up news from the event. Thanks to everyone who participated, helped, and attended!