NATCHITOCHES – A pitch to transform discarded crawfish remains into biodegradable packaging won first place in the 2026 Inferno Pitch, a student business plan and entrepreneurship competition presented by Northwestern State University’s College of Business and Technology.
Legend Brunson of Natchitoches pitched his idea to a team of judges to win $3,000 and six months of professional services from the Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program. He advances to the statewide Pelican Cup competition that will take place next spring.
CrawCycle Solutions proposes improving the environment by turning crawfish shells into compostable bags, chitin soil meal and chitosan. Brunson presented a six-step process for collecting crawfish waste and transforming into usable bags, providing a physical sample of compostable plastic for judges. His eventual goal is to free consumers from petroleum-based plastics.
Second place and $1,000 went to Santiago Sanchez of Villamaria, Colombia, for GeoFin, an app that helps individuals and businesses track their finances with analytics and an AI agent that acts as a finance coach.
Third place and $500 went to Valeria Botero Ocampo of Pereira, Colombia, for AURA, an AI-powered Fintech and business management platform that she developed in partnership with her friend Angie Ochoa.
NSU’s Inferno Pitch is sponsored by the Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program (EAP), which is a division of BRF. EAP’s mission is to build an inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem in north Louisiana. The Inferno Pitch is open to all NSU students and provides a real-world experience in the start-up and capital raising process of developing a business model with the help of faculty mentors and industry professionals.
Inferno Pitch winner Legend Brunson, center, was congratulated by Dr. Scott Wysong, dean of NSU’s College of Business and Technology, and William Anderson from the Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program.
Dr. Weiwen Liao is coordinator of the Inferno Pitch. Judges were Gwen Taylor Fontenot, director of Institutional Engagement and Economic Development at NSU; Matthew Gamble, entrepreneur, co-founder of Collins & Gamble and winner of 2023 Pelican Cup; Leslie Oglesby, manager of Economic Development & Research at the Natchitoches Area Chamber of Commerce; Brandon G. Pang, partner at Bradley, Murchison, Kelly & Shea LLC; Joanna Washington, vice president, senior deposit operation specialist and branch manager of City Bank & Trust Company, and Ronnie Williams, Jr., mayor of Natchitoches.
Information on NSU’s College of Business and Technology is available at https://www.nsula.edu/academics/colleges-and-schools/college-of-business-and-technology/.