Three from UB School of Management tapped for global entrepreneur fellowship

By Jacqueline Molik Ghosen

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Two MBA students and one alumna from the University at Buffalo School of Management have been accepted to the Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars Global Fellowship program for their venture, Real Talk, a platform that brings people from all backgrounds together for open discussion about important issues.

Janelle Fore, BS ’20, MBA ’21; Malkijah Griffiths, BS ’19, MBA/MPH ’22, and Western New York Prosperity Fellow; and Sonya Tareke, BS ’17, MBA ’20, will receive resources, support and mentorship to help them advance their startup ideas over the eight-week program. Each fellow will also receive $5,000 in grant funding to support their time working on advancing their startup.

Real Talk is one of only 40 student startups from across the U.S. and Ireland selected for the fall LaunchPad Fellowship program.

This cohort of the fellowship is focused on social impact student startups—those with a positive societal outcome, beyond financial success. The program features LaunchPad coaching sessions and weekly entrepreneurial workshops, as well as mentoring from Blackstone campus ambassadors and Techstars entrepreneurs during a “LaunchPad Mentor Week.” 

Students will also have the opportunity to hear firsthand from social impact entrepreneurs from such organizations as TalkingPoints, All Star Code, River Health, Cloztalk and Imerman Angels.

“The Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars global network allows us to leverage resources we wouldn’t otherwise have access to,” says Hadar Borden, director of UB’s Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars. “It’s a great way to support student ventures beyond our own campus programming.”