Shakir Blackett, Senior

College of Technology, Architecture and Applied Engineering
Major: Aviation Engineering Technology
Product: TouchColor

Shakir Blackett of Bridgetown, Barbados, is a young budding entrepreneur who started his own micro-mobility company, “Meridian Rentals.” The company has raised over $50,000 in funding from private investors and is currently working diligently to bring a highly intelligent and safely operated electric scooter network to the city of Bowling Green and to BGSU students. Blackett is also the chapter president of his fraternity, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc., and has served on the board for the National Panhellenic Council as the community service chair. When Blackett isn’t working on his company or school, he is producing music for his Youtube page and doing collaborations with musical artists.

Blackett’s business idea, TouchColor, is a simple but effective Braille word system that helps visually impaired users to decipher the size, color and pattern of articles of clothing. This is ideal for persons who are either color blind, visually impaired or completely blind. This helps users to not only regain the ability to properly clothe themselves, but also to shop for themselves as well. This creates a niche avenue for “special” clothing stores for visually impaired people to come to and be able to buy clothes completely independently.

Pablo Gómez-Estévez, doctoral student

College of Musical Arts
Major: Composition
Product: Literally

Pablo Gómez-Estévez is a composer and pianist from Santiago, Dominican Republic. He is pursuing a doctoral degree in contemporary music from BGSU, and he received a master’s in composition from BGSU and a Bachelor of Arts from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, where he was named the 2016 Presser Undergraduate Scholar Award recipient. Gómez-Estévez is also a graduate assistant in the Composition Department at BGSU, and a member of the Phi Beta Kappa and Pi Kappa Lambda honor societies.

Gómez-Estévez’s music combines Caribbean genres such as salsa, merengue, gagá, bachata and chachachá and infuses them with jazz harmonies and contemporary composition techniques. His works have been performed at BGSU, Luther College, Berklee College of Music, Boston Conservatory, and in the Dominican Republic.

His product, Literally, is an online platform for interactive children’s stories enhanced with music, designed for children ages three to eight years old. All stories are bilingual, and they are augmented with original music.

Kathryn Greenwell, Junior

Schmidthorst College of Business
Major: Marketing
Product: Wheely Warmers

Kathryn Greenwell, of Centerville, Ohio, is a junior in the Schmidthorst College of Business, majoring in marketing. Along with being a Hatch participant, Greenwell is the president of Disability Rights Education Advocation and Mentorship (D.R.E.A.M.) on campus. She has been a member of D.R.E.A.M. for two years, and this is her first year serving as president. When Greenwell is not at school or working on D.R.E.A.M. activities, she can often be found working at Carillon Place, one of BGSU’s dining halls.

Wheely Warmers is a product that was inspired by Greenwell’s co-creator, Leah Schulze, during a conversation about the difficulty of using a wheelchair during the winter. Schulze noted how cold her wheelchair rims get, and how it is uncomfortable and painful to hold onto the cold metal. The product is a hand warmer which is fitted onto the rim of a manual wheelchair to keep the user’s hands warm while they wheel themselves. The team’s goal is to make maneuvering outdoors in winter a bit easier and more comfortable for wheelchair users.

Joe Greve, Junior

Schmidthorst College of Business
Major: Business Management
Product: Crank-Savr Technology

Joe Greve of Highland Heights, Ohio, is a junior majoring in business management with a minor in entrepreneurship and plans to double major in finance. He is currently the president of the Kappa Sigma fraternity.

Greve came up with his idea for the Hatch through his passion for fishing, which he’s been doing for over 15 years. The idea came to him in 2019 when he was fishing and lost five lures in a few hours. That frustrating experience made him realize there was an opportunity to solve this problem. The opportunity combined with his work ethic is allowing his idea to come to life and hopefully one day make the way people fish much easier and stress free.

His idea, Crank-Savr Technology, is a fishing lure that can carry cartridges so that if the lure gets snagged on a rock or log, the cartridge has teeth that break off at a predetermined force. All a user must do is tug and the teeth break off. Then they can reel the lure back in and put another cartridge in.  

Hunter Mahl, Freshman

Schmidthorst College of Business
Major: Business Administration
Product: Green Sweeper

Hunter Mahl was born and raised in Blacklick, Ohio. From a young age, he has always been interested in business and the idea of making something new to improve the quality of life for others. Instead of watching the latest YouTubers, Mahl could usually be found watching TED Talks and filling notebooks and journals with business ideas. In high school, he was very active in DECA, where he made it to the state competition twice. His biggest inspiration is his mother, Katherine, who passed away from breast cancer when he was still in high school. He uses her passing as fuel to keep driving and pushing himself every day to do more with his life.

In his first semester at BGSU, Mahl heard about the HATCH program during an in-class presentation, and from that moment on, he started brainstorming ideas to pitch. Mahl and his father started coming up with ways they could be more productive with their two-man lawn care company that they own together. That’s when the idea for the Green Sweeper clicked for him, and he started to design the submission for the Hatch. He spent time talking with other commercial and residential lawn mowing companies about the idea and decided there was indeed a market for the product.

Nolan Thomas, Senior

College of Arts and Sciences
Major: Individualized Studies with a minor in Entrepreneurship
Product: Ruff and Rugged

Nolan Thomas, of Litchfield, Ohio is a senior pursuing an individualized study plan through the College of Arts and Sciences with a minor in entrepreneurship. After graduation, he plans to pursue animal-related entrepreneurship ventures.

Thomas’s business idea, Ruff and Rugged, is a line of dog collars that provides a tough and durable collar without compromising the comfort of the dog. After experiencing collar-caused skin irritation and gashes on his own dog, Vincent, Thomas realized that there was a need for a sturdy collar that could make it through play time without jeopardizing the well-being of a pet.

Leah Schulze, Junior

College of Arts and Sciences
Major: Psychology with a minor in Spanish
Product: Wheely Warmers

Leah Schulze is a junior at BGSU majoring in psychology with a minor in Spanish. Growing up with spina bifida, she realized that it was really hard for children with this disability to find adults that understand what they are going through. With her degree and furthering her education through graduate school, she plans on eventually becoming a clinical counselor for kids like her. When Schulze is not studying, she participates in sled hockey, works at the Falcons Nest and is also an Honors Fellow.

Having spina bifida and primarily getting around with a wheelchair led her to the idea of Wheely Warmers. Along with her Hatch partner, Kate Greenwell, she hopes to create an easily applicable device that warms the hands of those with metal wheelchair rims, who may not have the dexterity to use normal gloves all of the time.

Nathanael Slemmons, Freshman

Schmidthorst College of Business
Major: Economics with a minor in Entrepreneurship
Product: SimpleFinder

Nathanael Slemmons is a freshman majoring in economics, with a minor in entrepreneurship. He has always had an immense passion for entrepreneurship and business since he was a young kid. He has experimented with different entrepreneurial ventures ranging from e-commerce, property management and even digital media production. Some of his lifelong goals include being a successful entrepreneur and traveling the world.

His Hatch idea is the SimpleFinder, is a simple locater device used to find misplaced items around the house. He is extremely excited and thankful to have this opportunity, and he is looking forward to learning from his fellow Hatchlings and mentor.  

Sophia Stockham, Junior

College of Arts and Sciences
Major: Political Science and Communication double major
Product: Hear to Help

Sophia Stockham of Wauseon, Ohio is a third-year 4.0 Honors student studying political science and communication. Sophia works as an ambassador for the Office of Multicultural Affairs as well as a learning assistant for weather and climate. In addition, she has leadership roles within BGSU’s International Relation Organization, and is actively pursuing undergraduate research. Through her leadership roles and community service, Stockham understands the importance of removing barriers to communication.

Stockham’s personal development includes overcoming her speech impediment to become a two-time national collegiate speech champion. For this reason, Hear To Help is personal for her. Her business idea Hear to Help focuses on creating a cheaper, more durable and ecofriendly repairment system for hearing aids. Stockham believes no child should have to worry about being able to afford their next pair of hearing aids, and Hear to Help provides a solution to make that dream become a reality.  

Tim Tressel ‘89, Alumnus

Product name: TOOLing Around Tool Caddy for Utility Tractors

Tim Tressel, of Luckey, Ohio, graduated in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science in business administration, specializing in market research. He has worked as a market researcher and then the owner/operator of an antique and reproduction history business. Currently, Tressel is the owner of Fertile Ground Tools.

Tim’s business idea is called the TOOLing Around Tool Caddy for Utility Tractors. The size of a utility tractor is between a small lawn mower/garden tractor and a large farm/field tractor. It is used by people who have larger properties. There are different attachments that are made for these utility tractors that can mow grass, plow snow, and lift and haul dirt, to name just a few. The TOOLing Around Tool Caddy will utilize the three-point lift system at the rear of the tractor to organize and carry long-handled tools and other gear during the transport to the lawn and garden or landscaping project.