By designing a new safety system for motorcycle riders that is embedded into a rider’s jacket, a student team at Loyola Marymount University College of Business Administration won an entrepreneurial competition recently at the University of Cincinnati.
The LMU team created a motorcycle jacket with wireless turn signals and brake lights. When a rider turns on a left turn signal, the light blinks on the left side of the jacket’s back. Red lights on the jacket’s back become brighter when the rider applies his brakes.
The team is comprised of Anan Hamdan, Patrick Kronfli, Ari Magder, Karli Schneider and Antar Spearmon, graduate students who are enrolled in the College of Business Administration’s entrepreneurship courses. Two are pursuing engineering degrees, while two others are M.B.A. students. The fifth is pursuing a dual degree involving both disciplines. The group’s advisor was Fred Kiesner, professor of management and the Conrad Hilton Chair in Entrepreneurship.
“The experience of preparing for and competing in these competitions was exhilarating and rewarding,” said team member Kronfli. “We are very appreciative of how much LMU has supported us in the development of our business. Competing with and meeting students from around the world with similar visions and ambitions was an opportunity that we hope all entrepreneurship students get to experience.”
“We are so very proud of all of our entrepreneurship students. CBA student teams have now come home with awards in 11 straight national and international competitions,” said Kiesner. “They are competing with the best schools in the nation, and the world.”
The CBA team is now working on the patent for the safety system and pursuing interest for the idea from several large motorcycle-jacket manufacturers.