EMI congratulates the UMA Bioseed team

11/17/2015

The EMI is proud of the success of EMI Fellows and the impact of the institute in the initial launch of some of its endeavors.


EMI congratulates the UMA Bioseed teaminline-block

The Emerging Markets Institute (EMI) congratulates Brennan Duty (MBA ’15), Abhijeet Bais (MBA ’15), and Margaret Wu (MBA ’15), on their startup Uma Bioseed, which won $500,000 in the 43North competition in Buffalo on October 29. The group last year also won the Mai Bangkok Business Challenge with the support of the EMI. Brennan Duty, an EMI Fellow, said support from the institute and alumni Rob Cañizares (’71, MBA ’74), was key:

“Good business is about building atop the innovations and ideas of your current and previous colleagues. For us, Rob Cañizares’ support for the initial platform technology (via ZYMtronix) in Thailand and beyond is one of the biggest reasons we were successful in Thailand this year, as well as the competitions in which we participated at Cornell, Albany and now Buffalo. And the EMI was a huge part of breathing life into both ZYMtronix and Uma Bioseed. When people asked us this past week about what validated our assumptions and our business, the team uniformly responded, “Well, it all started in Thailand when we won the Mai Sasin Business Venture Challenge, where experts from finance, operations, biotechnology, agriculture and more declared Uma Bioseed the winning idea out of 100+ teams from 14 countries.” We cannot thank the EMI nor Rob Cañizares enough for their support of both ZYMtronix and Uma Bioseed.”

Brennan Duty, MBA ‘15

Roberto Cañizares is an active member of the EMI Executive and Advisory Board. He has supported a variety initiatives and projects to assist EMI Fellows:

“My wife Gail and I are also lucky to have been at the right place and the right time to be able to be associated with all of you. Thank you Lourdes for Cornell, Johnson, and the Emerging Markets Institute making these connections possible. I also want to thank Lou Walcer, for the nurturing role the McGovern Incubator plays in the development of ZYMtronix, and for inviting me to be a mentor in his team of volunteers.”

Roberto Cañizares, ’71, MBA ‘74

The EMI is proud of the success of EMI Fellows and the impact of the institute in the initial launch of some of its endeavors.

Cornell’s Emerging Markets Institute at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management provides thought leadership on the role of emerging markets and emerging market multinationals in the global economy. The Institute brings together preeminent practitioners and academics from around the world to develop the next generation of global business leaders and conduct groundbreaking research.