NATCHITOCHES, La. — CrawCycle Solutions, a proposal to turn discarded crawfish shells into compostable packaging, won Northwestern State University’s 2026 Inferno Pitch. Founder Legend Brunson of Natchitoches earned $3,000 and six months of professional services from BRF’s Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program and will advance to the statewide Pelican Cup competition in spring 2027.
Brunson presented a six-step process for collecting crawfish waste and converting it into compostable bags. He showed judges a sample of the material. The proposal also calls for producing chitin soil meal and chitosan from the shells. Brunson’s long-term goal is to give consumers an alternative to petroleum-based plastics.
Santiago Sanchez of Villamaria, Colombia, took second place and won $1,000 for GeoFin, an app designed to help individuals and businesses track their finances using analytics and an AI-powered financial coach.
Valeria Botero Ocampo of Pereira, Colombia, placed third and won $500 for AURA, an AI-powered financial technology and business management platform she developed with Angie Ochoa.
NSU’s College of Business and Technology presented the competition, which is open to all university students. The Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program sponsored the event, which gives students experience developing business models and pitching them with guidance from faculty mentors and industry professionals.