Students pitch business ideas in 'Shark Tank'-style competition at Prairie View A&M

PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (KTRK) -- Students and alumni at Prairie View A&M University got quite the opportunity: a chance to pitch their business idea to a group of entrepreneurs.

The winner also has the chance to win $30,000 for their start-up.

Students went one-by-one in "Shark Tank"-style, giving it their best shot and sharing their passion.

Jasmine Mitchell wants to start a swimsuit line, with a portion of the proceeds going to help domestic violence victims in Houston.

"I don't really come from a family that has a lot of money to basically give me money to start my business up, or help me be able to find designers or stuff like that, so this is going to be a great opportunity for me especially," Mitchell said.

Marcus Bowers, owner of She's Happy Hair, attended the competition.

"Everybody wants to be great and get the money now and not crawl, walk, run but if you actually follow in the footsteps of a lot of other success stories, it's kind of like creating that 2018 Underground Railroad," Bowers said. "That's kind of why we're here. That's kind of what we're doing. Showing people how we got successful and how we got to where we at."

The pitch competition was part of the inaugural opening of the Black Collegiate Bloggers PR and Marketing Conference.