Five teams of young entrepreneurs are hitting the ground running after completing their year-long residency at Syracuse’s Tech Garden. They received at least $50,000 as part of the Syracuse Surge Accelerator program for Black, Indigenous and People of Color. One of the companies is about to launch its food delivery mobile app at LeMoyne College. Graduate Celestin Abwe graduated in 2023 and a year later, he’s unveiling his new full-time business, Clutch Delivery.

“If the food is on campus, we don’t charge for delivery. If it’s delivered off campus, we charge. That’s one of the things we’re currently working on with LeMoyne. We just developed our own route optimization system internally.”

Abwe says he wanted to develop a food delivery app that was affordable for students. He says the delivery staff knows the LeMoyne campus well.

“I asked myself, ‘Why can’t we just hire fellow students to deliver?’ Because they have access, they can bring people to my dorm, and the food isn’t sitting outside where someone could tamper with it or steal it, which would be a problem.”

Abwe says the goal is to expand to other college campuses like Syracuse University and hire more students to deliver food orders. He is also negotiating with local restaurants to partner with Clutch Delivery.

A father-daughter fashion design team from Syracuse wants to bring music fans closer to their favorite artists. They’re one of five teams we’re featuring who recently completed a business accelerator program for Black, Indigenous and people of color. Hasan Stephens is CEO of HippoH Apparel and says there’s a special feature hidden in their clothing.

“We use technology built into the hoodies. You see the hoodie I’m wearing right now. It’s basically connected to the phone. You tap the phone, it sends push notifications that connect you to individually curated content from the artists.”

Stephens says the concept allows fans to access unique content from their favorite artists or learn about new artists. He is currently introducing the clothing to artists and influencers as the company launches a range of new clothing items.

“The first phase was just the Hippo launch, where we work with emerging artists and different rappers. We’re still in that phase and we’re soliciting new music from artists that we can curate and find out what’s really good.”

He says black and brown musicians can’t capitalize further after purchasing their clothing. However, HippoH’s Apparel wants to maintain a connection with fans. Stephens and his daughter Shai designed the clothing line last year at Syracuse’s Tech Garden, where they will remain for another year. The company secured an initial $90,000 through the Syracuse Surge Business Accelerator program. Those interested in the yet-to-be-announced next round of the competition can fill out an interest form here.