Spelman College Wins 7th Annual Moguls in the Making Entrepreneurial Pitch Competition

Spelman Students Win $100K in Scholarships with Award-Winning Business Pitch Empowering Women Entrepreneurs in Detroit

Spelman College students took top honors in the seventh annual Moguls in the Making entrepreneurial pitch competition, winning a combined $100,000 in scholarships. The students will be featured on "The Jennifer Hudson Show" on September 25 to speak about their Moguls in the Making experience and winning idea.

The Moguls in the Making competition, held Sept. 11-14 in Detroit, was hosted by Ally Financial in collaboration with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF). As part of the competition, 50 students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) developed innovative and impactful solutions to address economic mobility challenges in Detroit. To date, Ally has awarded nearly $1.5 million in scholarships and prizes through Moguls in the Making. 

Spelman students Aubria King, C’2027; Ca'Miyah King, C’2027; Kennedy Washington, C’2027; Madison Harris, C’2028; and Sydney Johnson, C’2028, won with their idea, Prospera, an ecosystem that builds up women-owned small businesses, increasing economic mobility in Detroit and beyond. 

”This was such a great opportunity, and it’s such an honor to have finally brought home the win for Spelman College,” said Harris, literature, media and writing major and team captain. “It was great to learn & network with other HBCU students from across the country, while also creating a pitch to improve economic mobility in Detroit, and I'm so grateful to have done this with my team members Aubria, Kennedy, Ca'Miyah and Sydney. All the late nights and early mornings with them were worth it.”

The 50 student competitors toured Ally's hometown of Detroit to learn about the city's rich heritage, community and challenges. They were then assigned industries and asked to develop a concept to support economic mobility in Detroit, creating business plans to put those ideas into action. This year, in addition to learning experiences, students also explored how to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into their processes responsibly, learning how AI will support the workforce of the future.

On the final day, each team presented their business plan to a panel of judges who awarded prizes to the top three teams based on the pitch. Members of those top teams, including second place Hampton University and third place North Carolina A&T State University, received a scholarship for the 2025 school year and other prizes to support their education.

Learn more about the program at www.ally.com/moguls.