Power Solomon’s Quest for World-Class Entrepreneurial Skills

My name is Solomon Gbara, an Honors College student at the University of New Mexico studying Business Administration and the founder of ValidSync, an AI platform that protects homeowners and real-estate professionals by verifying contractor licenses and insurance in real time. I have been accepted to the European Innovation Academy’s 15-day Entrepreneurship & Start-up Course, which runs from July 27 to August 15, 2025, at St. John’s University in Rome. This program gathers a few hundred student founders from around the world and places them in a rapid venture-building sprint guided by mentors from Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and other industry leaders.

Attending EIA will let me validate compliance pain points directly with an international pool of 700 peers, refine ValidSync’s minimum viable product through expert feedback, and pitch to investors on the final day. The skills and network I gain will return to New Mexico in the form of new prototypes, market data, and ready-made workshops for organizations such as CNM Ingenuity, the UNM Innovation Academy, the New Mexico Tech Council, and Q Station.

My goal is to translate what I learn into concrete benefits for our entrepreneurial ecosystem, from safer real-estate practices to open knowledge-sharing sessions at venues like Speed Mentoring and Atomic 66.

The total cost of tuition, housing, travel, meals, insurance, and other necessities comes to 7,775 US dollars. Every contribution helps: twenty-five dollars covers a day of meals, one hundred dollars pays for local transit in Rome, and larger gifts close the gap on tuition and airfare.

Supporters will receive weekly micro-updates while I am in Rome, a three-part LinkedIn video series explaining why New Mexico matters to me, what I accomplish at EIA, and how the experience will benefit the state. In September 2025 I will host a free lunch-and-learn recap for sponsors, followed by six to twelve months of pro-bono market-validation support for local startups through NM Angels, Roadrunner Venture Studios, and the Innovation Hub.

I am reaching out not only to friends and family but also to a broad network of potential partners that includes CNM Ingenuity, Southwest Capital Bank, Meow Wolf, Explora, Bank of America’s Student Leaders alumni, the Greenberg Research Group, AFRL, Q Station, the New Mexico Trade Alliance, Global Shapers, the NM Black and Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, Nusenda, PNM Resources, Sandia and Los Alamos Laboratories, and many others. Your gift—whether cash or simply a share of this campaign—will help a young New Mexico innovator bring global best practices home and fuel the growth of many future startups.

Thank you for considering an investment in my journey.