STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Xavier student wins national pitch competition

November 7, 2024

By: Jayvon Watkins, Staff Writer

1,000 miles from his school and 5,000 miles from his home.  

Jamiri Flint prepared to take the stage at the University of Southern California’s capital campus in Washington, D.C., to pitch his business: DIEGO, to a group of judges at Black Girl Ventures. The Xavier business major was competing for a $15,000 cash prize against six other highly skilled participants. In a situation where most people would find themselves nervous, Flint was more prepared than ever.  

“I was just laser focused and ready to present my business to a well-respected audience,” Flint said. “Working so hard on a startup and having the opportunity to pitch it in front of investors is truly amazing.”  

DIEGO stands for Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity on the Go. It’s a travel-based cultural education app that helps stop misinformation related to traveling. Flint said his app is personalized to the user to help them with travel information specifically for their destination. 

After wrapping up his pitch, Flint sat down and waited for everyone else to finish with their pitches. When the judges announced who won the Audience Choice award, it wasn’t him. He didn’t let that discourage him. 

 Flint said his eyes were still set on the 1st place prize for the whole competition. The judges told the participants that the winners for the competition would be dependent on their fundraising skills.  

For the next week he spent numerous hours in the library and other popular spots on campus to network and gain donations for his business. After several strenuous days, Flint was ecstatic to learn that he came in first place with a grand total of 188 donations. 

“Fundraising is extremely hard, and knowing I won after being in the library and reaching out to friends and family for donations was comforting and rewarding,” Flint said. 

Flint’s inspiration for DIEGO came from him and his family’s love for traveling. Soon after his thirteenth birthday, his mother, Cinnamon Wilson-Flint, moved him and his siblings from California to Morocco where they lived for a year.  

While in Morocco, Flint and his mother both learned a lot about living in a different country and the change in culture. The fears that Cinnamon had about moving to a different country subsided when she arrived and felt at home by the locals.  

“I felt welcomed by the people in Morocco,” Wilson-Flint said. “I loved being able to walk down the street without judgment we experience as Black people in America.” 

She believes her son’s app would have been great to have back then, and it would have eased her worries about the move.  

“I would have known more about what to expect,” Wilson-Flint said. “Much of my expectations came from an American perspective. It wouldn’t have been so scary had I known things about the culture from actual Moroccans,” she added. 

In addition to traditional travelers, this app also could help military families when moving to foreign countries for deployments. Flint’s godfather Duston Ashton, a former unit development manager for the Air Force, thinks so. 

“We were in a German town, and one of our soldiers ordered French onion soup,” Ashton said. The German soldier who was serving them stopped speaking in German to curse out the American soldier in English. 

“Turns out, the area had flipped between French and German rule for centuries, and they were still bitter about it,” Ashton said. “DIEGO could have given us a quick update on the local sensitivities, helping us avoid that awkward moment entirely.” 

Jamiri Flint’s app has the opportunity to help a lot of people, but for now, he’s still reflecting on his win. He’s the first Xavier student to win the Black Girl Ventures pitch competition.  

“It feels good to be the first Xavierite to win because Xavier isn’t necessarily known for its business department,” he said. “I hope to inspire other entrepreneurs at Xavier to put themselves out of their comfort zone and to spread awareness for their businesses.”