... a winner! Yes, Jonathan Perez Gomez, Steds freshman and resident Guadalajaran, recently won the McCloskey New Venture Competition People's Choice Award. What was Gomez's idea? In short, creating health care delivery system to be like a visit to your local Costco. Thanks to Gomez's idea, and a number of Steds attending the competition, Gomez pulled off a surprise win. On participating and wining, Gomez shared,
"Participating in McCloskey was such an incredible and fulfilling experience. As freshman with a social venture based in Mexico and in a single member team, I was competing against upperclassmen, grad students, and Alumni with multi-member teams full of experts from Yale and Harvard. So it was not easy, but I think that my young age and the passionate way I delivered my speech were factors that allowed me to win over the audience and some people even reached out to me to give me advice or tell me to contact them later so that they can introduce a possible investor later. Of course, I was hoping to get a flashy award like best undergraduate venture or the Grand Prize, but at the end I ended up getting the People’s Choice award. And this award was more fruitful than any other because it just proved how unified and amazing is the community of Steds, as many Stedsmen came over to vote and support the venture. Thank you all for coming!
Besides the awards, this event was an opportunity to listen and learn from highly experienced individuals. The founder of the entrepreneurship center at ND, Gary Gigot, gave a speech about his story in replicating entrepreneurial projects from the West Coast at Notre Dame. In the end, he publicly acknowledged my great job in my pitch, which I infinitely thanked him for. He then told me privately that being part of a family business that grows the good is something valuable at my young age. He gave me some advice and his blessing. This world of entrepreneurship is not easy; we will have to face rejection and unexpected things. But we should thank for the opportunities that exist out there and use them. You might make thousands of calls, knock on hundreds of doors, or shake dozens of hands, but it only takes one Good Samaritan that is willing to support you to make your dreams come true. Keep fighting and never give up. Go Irish!"
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