Kirchner Impact Foundation Hosts Pitch Competition for HBCU Students and Alumni
Hybrid event held in the heart of Tremé, New Orleans
June 25, 2025, New Orleans, LA – Kirchner Impact Foundation today announced the winners of its second pitch competition for students and recent alumni of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), as part of its larger HBCU Program. The competition took place on June 21, 2025 at TechPlug, a heath tech start up support organization in New Orleans and via Zoom.
The competition awarded two categories of prizes: one for companies generating revenue and one for pre-revenue concepts. Prizes included $10,000 in cash, business consulting and advisory services, as well as work space at TechPlug. Students from 15 HBCUs participated and presented their businesses to a panel of judges.
The first-prize winner in the revenue-generating category was Kelley Wolfe, a Dillard University alumna and Founder and CEO of ReJu Juice, a New Orleans-based cold-pressed juice company using fresh produce from Louisiana. Shalom Donga, a Grambling State University alumna and Founder of VocalPrint, a living digital sound museum that preserves endangered accents, dialects & oral traditions using AI, crowdsourcing, and ethical access models won first prize for the pre-revenue category.
Second prize winners receiving business consulting services included Jamiri Flint, Xavier University alumnus and Founder of DIEGO, a company that uses AI to make custom travel guides so people can explore new places and experience local culture, and team unPrinter from Grambling State University, a company tackling paper waste with a machine that prolongs its life by eight times through a technology that erases ink.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in the 2025 Kirchner Business Pitch Competition. It is always great to spend time with the Kirchner Impact Foundation team and the other finalists,” Kelley commented, as a second-time participant in the competition, “Americans deserve healthy food items. ReJu works each day to provide culturally appropriate recipes to nourish the body deliciously.”
“It is a great honor to have VocalPrint recognized as the winner of the Kirchner HBCU Pitch Competition,” Shalom commented, “This journey began with my core passion for technology and a question: how can I genuinely use tech for good, not just in word, but in deed? In trying to answer that for myself, I stumbled across something universal—identity and dignity. VocalPrint is a global solution to a global issue. It’s a step toward a more inclusive future. Let’s use technology not just to advance, but to uplift, especially those who still don’t have a voice in the very systems being built.”
“There were several full circle moments, reflecting on our HBCU programming over the years,” Hattie Brown, Kirchner Impact Foundation Manager, commented. “The first being our revenue category winner, Kelley Wolfe. Kelley first pitched to us two years ago and ReJu Juice has since experienced such impressive growth. It’s so great to see her passion and commitment to health in the community. The second moment was with our volunteer camera man, Kwame Terra, Founder and CEO of bEHR Health. Kwame was a member of our first HBCU Kirchner Fellowship cohort. To see Kwame go from Fellow to CEO has been a privilege, as he continues to promote health literacy throughout New Orleans and beyond. Lastly, the space where it all happened: TechPlug. When we first met Kornelius Bankston nearly five years ago, the space was in the planning stages. Today, it sits in the heart of the community it serves, ensuring equitable access to tech-enabled healthcare. We’ve hosted numerous events here and it always feels like home. And that couch!”
Kirchner Impact Foundation
KIF is a non-profit organization that serves as one of the “returning” arms of Kirchner Group. KIF harnesses the positive power of enterprise to make a difference in addressing some of the most important issues of today and reflects our belief that all businesses should contribute to a positive human future. The primary activities of KIF include the Kirchner Fellowship and Kirchner Investment Academy as well as other initiatives primarily across three sectors: Agriculture/Food, Health/Life Science, and Education. Through the Kirchner Impact Model (“returning” with head, hip and heart), the Foundation promotes capital efficiency and sustainable enterprises, while aiming to generate measurable, social and environmental benefits.
The Foundation is always looking for like-minded organizations and individuals to help it continue to expand its training programs and impact. www.kirchnerimpact.com
Hattie Brown | Manager | hbrown@kirchnergroup.com
Kirchner Group
Kirchner Group was founded in 1985 as a boutique firm and today operates various subsidiaries, providing advisory services (M&A, assessments, diligence) and operational support (interim management, workouts, turnarounds) as well as asset management (dedicated, portfolio optimization) – all leveraging a proprietary approach that dovetails domain and process expertise.
Throughout the decades Kirchner Group has been internationally recognized for its unique business model centered around creating value while promoting values: “earning while returning”. The firm has also established a reputation for building and rebuilding important business and social paradigms based on its deep entrepreneurial orientation.
Kirchner Group’s clients and partners include early stage to mid-market companies, venture capital and private equity firms as well as family offices and some of the world’s largest insurance companies, commercial banks and institutional investors. www.kirchnergroup.com
Blair Kirchner | Managing Director | bgkirchner@kirchnergroup.com