Entrepreneurship in the hard tech space is not for the faint of heart. Milestones often take years to achieve. The University of Tennessee Research Foundation (UTRF) is a steadfast partner in this journey, working with innovators to turn groundbreaking innovations into reality—no matter how long the commercialization runway.
In May 2024, UTRF executed a license agreement with Endeavor Composites, a process nearly six years in the making. Endeavor Composites, founded by CEO and President Hicham Ghossein, provides a zero-waste circular economy solution for composite manufacturers. The startup intercepts fibers going to landfills and repurposes them into a nonwoven fabric to reinforce vehicles and other parts made of sustainable composites.
Our journey took a little longer than usual because of the pandemic. UTRF was generous enough to give us an extension because they knew we were at home, unable to prove the technology in the lab,” remarked Ghossein. “During the negotiation process, there was an emphasis that we will win and grow together. UTRF has a vested interest in our success because if we’re successful, they’re successful.”
Ghossein began his entrepreneurial journey during his doctoral studies at UT Knoxville with his advisor, Uday Vaidya, professor and Governor’s Chair of Advanced Composites Manufacturing for UTK and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In 2018, UTRF filed a patent application with UTK’s Vaidya and Ghossein and ORNL’s Lonnie Love. The patent was issued in October 2023.
Reflecting on his career journey, he is most thankful for participating in various accelerator programs, which enabled his company’s growth, technology focus and collaborations.
We were blessed to learn from different accelerators, including the I-Corps program with UTRF and ORNL’s Innovation Crossroads,” said Ghossein. “The accelerators helped us learn what clients care about and scale our technology. We have grown from focusing only on carbon fiber to working with more than 16 fibers.”
Like many entrepreneurs beginning their journey, Ghossein worked alone for the first three years, working long hours daily to set Endeavor Composites up for success. Now, he is thankful to have five full-time and three part-time employees. He may begin bringing on additional team members as early as May 2025, depending on traction over the next few months.
It took a village — from suppliers to clients who believed in us,” he said. “Now, we are a toddler. We’re five years old, and only a few companies make it to five, so that’s a big blessing. We’re still maturing and scaling. Hopefully, we’ll be a teenager soon.”
In the next few years, Ghossein aims to expand and transition production to an industrial scale, beginning with installing the company’s first pilot line. Later this year, Endeavor Composites will announce a few strategic partnerships that will provide a larger, global footprint. He hopes to open a significant investment round sometime in 2025 and continue engaging with the Knoxville entrepreneurial community.
I’m proud of my team and their work, especially landing our partnership with SkyNano,” said Ghossein about a project with a fellow Innovation Crossroads graduate. “We’ve been able to help SkyNano and learn from a company that’s older and more experienced than us. That was a beautiful collaboration and a highlight because we’re both Knoxville-based companies.”
Most of all, he is grateful for his partnership with UTRF, ORNL, Innovation Crossroads, Launch Tennessee, the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center, the Spark Innovation Center and many other organizations and individuals in the community who have set him up for long-term success.
The whole ecosystem has been helpful to us,” he said. “Any hard tech entrepreneur should consider starting or relocating to Knoxville because we have a lot of resources, facilities, and people who can help mature and grow these kinds of companies.”