#53 5 Startups that are Paving the Future
Designing, launching, and running your own business might seem like a daunting task for the average individual, but it’s not for this group of highly-motivated teen entrepreneurs that recently competed in the Diamond Challenge Summit 2019. Every year, Horn Entrepreneurship, the creative engine for entrepreneurship education and advancement created by the University of Delaware, hosts an annual competition where approximately 60 of the best high school startups from all around the world compete from a prize pool of approximately $100,000. From glasses that implement A.I. technologies to help the blind to new solutions that target large societal problems like inadequate access to medication, here are a few other businesses created by young entrepreneurs that goes to show that age is just a number.
- Company Name: G.I. Spy
Founders: Carolyn Randolph, Elle Jerry, and Grace Nkurunziza
Description: G.I. Spy aims to helps patients with gastrointestinal issues locate their
triggers through an app that helps them to track their food as well as keep in direct contact with their doctors. Originally inspired by Randolph’s own story, she found that many of the current treatments to these diseases are often unsuccessful with methods, such as the elimination diet, which can take up to two years to work. Therefore, G.I. Spy was created in order to create a more successful solution for these patients.
- Company Name: ShelterLinks
Founder: Pratham Rawat
Description: ShelterLinks is an app designed to connect the community around the problem of homelessness. Inspired by the prevalence of this problem within New York City, Rawat aims to connect volunteers to homeless shelters through his app. Shelters are allowed to post events that they will be hosting, and in turn, volunteers will be able to sign up easily and help out with the different events that are being hosted. In order to provide some type of incentive for the volunteers, ShelterLinks hopes to partner with local business in order to provide coupons and other small rewards in order to encourage more volunteers to use the app.
- Company Name: Ground Up Computer Science
Founders: Rohan Kanchana and Noah Rossi
Description: Driven by the disparity between the amount of the interest in the field of computer science and the current educational means to fill the interest, Ground Up Computer Science was created as a new method to teaching about the subject. Through a week of project based learning around computer science, students are introduced to the subject of coding in a whole new light. Ultimately, they hope to better educate students who are interested in the field as well as fill any of the current educational gaps.
- Company Name: 4ai
Founders: Ashley Poon and Cathy Hou
Description: 4ai is a nonprofit organization that employs workers with disabilities to label images which are then sold to technology companies to improve the current machine learning algorithms. Frustrated by the current lack of people with disabilities within this workforce, Poon and Hou hope to advocate for their rights through 4ai. With their business they hope to not only increase the number of opportunities that are provided, but also expand the field of technology in order to push for a better future.
- Company Name: Reinvisioned Rubbish
Founder: Chloe Boissy
Description: Reinvisioned Rubbish plans to take the current waste plastic that is prevalent within Boissy’s community and turn it into building materials for underdeveloped communities. Boissy is from Guatemala, where approximately 30% of their income depends on resources provided by the lake that they live around. Currently, there are very few organizations that are dedicated to preserving the natural environment. Also fueled by the lack of affordable shelter for the Guatemalan people, Boissy hopes to melt down the plastic waste generated from the lake and turn it into a more affordable material.
Find your passion, and use that to drive you forward into creating your own business. Through the stories of these inspiring young entrepreneurs, hopefully you too will be able to find your drive into creating something of your own. Never be afraid of setbacks, and try to make a change within your community.
Author: Megan Chen
Editor: Sourish Jasti