Jesuit Pitch Competition Marks a Decade of Purpose-Driven Entrepreneurship at Fordham
On April 9, 2026, the Fordham University's Foundry celebrated the 10th anniversary of its annual Pitch Challenge, bringing together 10 entrepreneurial teams competing for $22,500 in seed funding across three tracks — General, Social Impact, and a Jesuit Schools category featuring Fordham, Loyola Marymount, and Georgetown University. Georgetown came out on top in the Jesuit Schools track with Ketsu, a digital companion app designed to help children manage type 1 diabetes, offering a more visually engaging interface than existing glucose-monitoring tools along with educational features to build healthy habits. The Georgetown team, led by MBA'26 students Aaron Brown and Mona Miraftab, noted, "...the experience of pitching to industry-savvy judges was invaluable, with Miraftab emphasizing that presenting in front of knowledgeable professionals is an essential step for anyone aspiring to reach the venture capital level."
Rooted in the same cura personalis and service-oriented values that unite JECA institutions, the Foundry has spent a decade nurturing student entrepreneurs who aim to build ventures that matter. The Pitch Challenge gives students the chance to test their ideas before investors and mentors, blending rigorous business thinking with a broader sense of purpose.
For the JECA community, Fordham's milestone is a shared one and is proof that Jesuit business education continues to produce not just skilled entrepreneurs, but ethical ones.