Master of Management Students Win Award by Tackling Plastic Waste
Five Master of Management students were recently awarded $1,000 for The Bob Elhart Award in the Entrepreneurship and New Firm Creation course. Team SAVON Skin consists of Feeha (Fia) Azeem (MMgt ’21), Anthony Azzarello (MMgt ’21), Stefania Priore (MMgt ’21), Tate Garlough (MMgt ‘21) and Toby Wercberger (MMgt ’21).
The team was inspired to create a product that would help solve the plastic waste crisis after conducting secondary research which found that ⅓ of people purchase mini toiletries to travel, while only ⅖ of these people take the time to recycle the leftover packaging.
“As mini and travel size items are hard to recycle, they have been labelled the ‘plastic straws’ of the beauty industry,” said Feeha.
SAVON Skin will provide an innovative solution to women seeking a convenient, customized, and clean skincare routine which is packaged in individual, one-time use face-wash pods that dissolve in water that can be easily applied to your skin.
“We estimate that each customer using Savon Skin on an annual basis will save 38.5 grams of plastic waste from being dumped into the ocean,” says Feeha. “We strive to make a difference, one step at a time with sustainable skincare.”
In accordance with their environmental mission, SAVON Skin will be donating 1% of their annual profits to Oceana Canada which is a non-profit ocean conservation charity dedicated to protecting the ocean and sea life.
The Award was created by Chris Carder, Executive Director of the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Co-Director of Entrepreneurial Studies in memory of one of his greatest personal mentors – the late Bob Elhart.
“A special thank you to mentors Abtin Masseratagah and Jared Kligerman (MBA ’11) for their expert entrepreneurial insight and support on the digital marketing and branding strategy,” said Carder. “Special thanks also to judges Mudit Rawat (MBA ’09) and Althea Wishloff for providing the team with great feedback on their final pitch.”
“Fantastic teamwork! The team not only took our feedback throughout the semester very seriously and integrated them to make an amazing final pitch, but also handled the questions from the judges with confidence, honesty, and determination,” said course Professor Moren Lévesque. “I feel so fortunate to have been working with these five young, clever, and inspirational minds.”