A graduate student team from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette won $10,000 at the Entrepreneurship Pelican Cup, the premiere business competition for the state of Louisiana.
Led by Natasha Syed, a master’s student in environmental resource science, “Team Bio-Pod” earned third place for its pitch to reimagine organic gardening through plant pods.
“Our team set out to reimagine how people connect with social and plants, making organic gardening accessible, sustainable, and scientifically grounded for everyone,” said Syed. “Competing at this level lets us show that solutions to some of our most pressing environmental challenges can start here in Louisiana.
"The winning team included graduate students Mansu Acharya and Matthew Hasling and was mentored by Jonathan Shirley, Louisiana Entrepreneurship & Economic Development (LEED) Center program and operations manager. Team Bio-Pod was one of two UL Lafayette graduate division teams who advanced to the top six in the statewide pitch competition.
Representing the College of Engineering, “Team Outage Pilot” pitched a smart home energy platform that helps homeowners recover from power outages more quickly. Students on the team included Md. Zahirul Khan, Md. Khairul Islam and Usama Aslam. Shirley said both teams laid a strong foundation for more students to compete at this level in the future.
"This success is an example of what can happen when we encourage and support our students while putting them in a position to be incredible," said Shirley.
Syed said her team is grateful Shirley’s guidance and support. The team will use this most recent endorsement from Louisiana business leaders and investors to help propel them to the next stage of their research project.
"This competition proved that the idea resonates beyond the lab,” said Syed. “We plan to put this funding directly into our research at UL Lafayette and bring Bio-Pod closer to the hands of everyday gardeners."
The annual Entrepreneurship Pelican Cup is hosted by the University of Louisiana at Monroe.
Photo caption: Two graduate student teams from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette competed as finalists in the graduate division of the 2026 Entrepreneurship Pelican Cup. Photo credit: Submitted photo