“Wow, the Lord is real. He is present and he wants us to run with this and make it a movement,” said Nick Rumer, sophomore business administration major and CEO and co-founder of ParaBrands.

After years of dreaming about running his own business, Rumer is seeing God’s work in producing a clothing brand alongside his friends. The summer project became a process of formulating Excel sheets, designing clothing, evaluating why they formed the business and hours of Biola student volunteer work. Out of six final teams, ParaBrands placed first in the Biola Startup Competition, winning $15,000 as well as a $10,000 legal package. In second place, Titanium won $7,500 and in third, Pedal on Purpose won $5,000.

GOD PROVIDING

“This was a thousand percent God’s work. Before this there were countless prayer meetings, just evaluating our ‘why’ in behind what we’re doing,” Rumer said. “When we saw the brand take off is when we actually sat down and said, ‘God what do you want us to do with this?’”

The team of eight hopes to create clothing designs with more meaningful messages that point to God’s glory. Throughout the competition, sophomore cinema and media arts major and head of design and co-founder of ParaBrands Victor Miller shared his experience with anxiety and finding God’s peace in their presentation.

“The learning process was that if you wait on the Lord, he will provide,” Miller said.

BUSINESS EXPERIENCE

While team members each learned different lessons, the competition provided practical business experience, including pitching ideas.

“It was definitely a great opportunity too for us to learn how to do a pitch in front of real judges and real investors. So going into the future, we’ll definitely take that experience and put it into practice when we go to investors in the future,” said Leo Thompson, junior business administration major and founder and CEO of Titanium.

Titanium uses 100 percent recycled plastic to make athletic wear with a current focus on soccer clubs in Southern California. As second place winners, Titanium plans to use the award money to produce kits for three different teams.

In third place, Pedal on Purpose is excited to implement their next business steps, according to junior marketing major Caleb Strauss. The business includes aiding people in transitioning out of homelessness by selling bikes.

“Everything is a learning process and you have to stay humble throughout. No matter how much money you win, in the end you have to know that you can always improve upon it,” said Farrah Hasen, member of Pedal on Purpose and Biola alumna.