Carey EMBA Candidate and His Wife Win Regional Competiton
Michael Fensterstock, Carey EMBA ’14, at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School sniffed a business opportunity while on vacation in Southeast Asia with his wife. There they found a special blend of natural fragrances that helps travelers avoid insect bites and foul odors at the same time. The couple acquired rights to the dual-action product and returned stateside to bottle and market the product to customers who would like an upscale fragrance that can also fend off mosquitoes.
The pair’s company, Mikey & Momo, entered Aromaflage, the product that resulted from their initial inspiration, in the Northeastern US Regional phase of the Harvard Business School New Venture Competition, held in New York City this past March. Melissa learned of the competition through her local HBS club chapter in New York. After winning the Regionals, Aromaflage is now on its way to the global finals.
“We won $5,000 in legal services, and since we won the Northeastern U.S. Regional Competition, we are invited to the worldwide competition at the end of April,” Michael said.
For the finals, Michael and Melissa will submit a 90-second video about Aromaflage’s team, model, and business plan for judging by HBS alumni around the world.
Michael says his EMBA schedule at Carey has enabled him to further his company’s growth because it focuses the learning experience in several residencies in Baltimore, online course work, and one eight-day international residency. The program allowed him to keep a New York base for the launch of Aromaflage.
The feedback he gained at the Entrepreneurship Summit and through his Executive MBA program classmates helped with connections to potential retailers and partners, and based on market input, the couple made the packaged product smaller and less expensive.
