Student entrepreneurs win $40,500 in scholarship money at Riata Business Plan Competition

Student entrepreneurs win $40,500 in scholarship money at Riata Business Plan Competition

Tuesday, February 3, 2026

Media Contact: Stephen Howard | Director of Marketing & Communications | 405-744-4363 | [email protected]

After months of preparation, student entrepreneurs at Oklahoma State University were rewarded for pitching their original business ideas to industry experts.

The Riata Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship concluded the annual Riata Business Plan Competition on Jan. 30, awarding a total of $40,500 in scholarship money to finalists.

"We're proud of all the participants who stepped up with creative ideas and put in the hard work throughout the competition," said Paula McCullough, manager of the Riata Center's outreach programs. "The Business Plan Competition gives students more than a stage -it offers hands-on experience, access to industry experts and feedback that helps turn ideas into viable ventures."

Open to OSU students of all majors, the competition promotes entrepreneurship and small business development by showcasing student-created, -managed and -owned ventures. Students compete for scholarship money to help fund those ventures, receive feedback from a panel of judges and deliver elevator pitches to a live audience.

Riata Center director Chad Mills (right) presents MBA student Kevin Kuteesa with the Richard L. Tourtellotte Family Scholarship.

Participants first had to submit their executive summaries for review in November. The selected finalists then competed in January across four tracks: Main Street Lifestyles, Big City High Tech, Social Enterprise and Rising Entrepreneur. The Rising Entrepreneur category includes participants who won scholarship money in a previous Riata Business Plan Competition.

The competition also featured the presentation of the 2026 Richard L. Tourtellotte Family Scholarship to Kevin Kuteesa. The $3,000 award includes naming recognition on a bench in the Tourtellotte Family Garden on the Business Building's north side.

Here are the 2026 Riata Business Plan Competition winners:

Main Street Lifestyles

First: Plenish Pouches - Wyatt Nantz, Luke Nantz, Tyler Reynolds

Second: Az-Tec, LLC - Steven Azzaro

Third: Crescendo Guitars - Charles Christe

Big City High Tech

First: PLUS - Amit Navare, Ujjval Patel

Second: Traditions AI - Racheal Appiah-Kubi

Third: EntrepreneursEat - Thomas Kettles

Social Enterprise

First: MonConnect Uganda - Nicholas Ssebalamu

Second: Prograte Capital Ventures - Kevin Kuteesa

Rising Entrepreneur

First: Scivince - Soroosh Farsiani, Mahla Hosseini

Best Elevator Pitch

Plenish Pouches - Wyatt Nantz, Luke Nantz, Tyler Reynolds

Richard L. Tourtellotte Family Scholarship

Prograte Capital Ventures - Kevin Kuteesa

Finalists

Turbo Shoe - Hamed Hemmati, Navya Bandaru, Jared Fimple

HipAI - Noah Duncan

CycloDynamics - Thulasi Veggalam, Nabia Fardin

ReagX - Prince Jhandai

Looklike - Landon Bakhsh

Noesis - Amit Mishra

Housed in the Spears School of Business, the Riata Center is OSU's go-to hub for innovation and entrepreneurship. Visit the website to learn more.