On Thursday, August 18 at the Salisbury Area Chamber of Commerce’s General Membership Luncheon, several graduates from the 2016 Young Entrepreneurs Academy participated in a Pitch Competition, where they presented their business and discussed the growth of their business since they graduated. YEA! presentations included Sarah Chambers of Cozy Caps, Tyler Dunn of Cap Strap, Adit Abraham & Benyam Ephrem of VelopApps and RJ Batts of Tip Tough. Luncheon attendees voted on their favorite business and Tyler Dunn of Cap Strap was named the winner and RJ Batts of Tip Tough was named runner up.
Tyler Dunn is the CEO of Cap Strap. Tyler participated in the YEA! program as a senior at James M. Bennett High School and this Fall he will be a freshman at Randolph-Macon College in Virginia with a baseball scholarship. The Cap Strap is a product that adheres to the inside of a container lid to hold a scooper, preventing an individual from getting their fingers dirty from protein power, lemonade, coffee, Oxyclean, etc. Since the inception of the Cap Strap, Tyler’s product has been endorsed by several major league baseball players. Tyler was one of the youngest individuals to ever compete and win in Salisbury University’s Shore Hatchery business plan competition and his product is currently available in a local retail store
Robert Batts is the founder of Picklehead LLC and the inventor of the Tip Tough. RJ was in 8th grade at Bennett Middle School when he participated in the YEA! program. The Tip Tough is a stainless steel finger guard that protects the fingers and knuckles from being cut when preparing food. Since the launch of Picklehead LLC, RJ has sold over 100 Tip Toughs, is being featured in two local stores and is also in talks with two national chains for possible regional launch. He has spent the summer revamping his website and making connections with local business owners to learn more about retail and to prepare him for the holiday season.
