Age is just a number when you are filled with passion. This fact doesn’t only apply to old age. Teenpreneurs from across the world are defying the notions of age too.
Building and running a business is often considered to be the job of someone experienced. People don’t take teenagers seriously or believe they can have the skills to run a successful business.
If you also think a teenager cannot become an entrepreneur, you’re mistaken.
You may lack experience, but you certainly don’t lack ideas, creativity, and a fearless attitude. Your innovative mind and the desire to do something are enough to put you in the shoes of an entrepreneur.
Don’t believe it?
Let’s introduce you to some of the teenpreneurs rocking the world of entrepreneurship. They have not only made a mark with their innovative ideas but also earned millions. From healthcare to fashion, no field is untouched by these teenage entrepreneurs.
Read on for some inspiring tales of teenprenuers who are changing the world with their ideas. The future might be waiting for you to be on this list.
Nikhiya Shamsher: Fighting Oral Cancer with QuitPuff
14-year-old Nikhiya of Bengaluru was left shaken by the plight of an oral cancer survivor. It led her to find the real reason for the high mortality rate among oral cancer patients: delay in detection. Moreover, these patients had to bear a lot of physical, emotional, and financial stress.
To solve this grave problem, she went on to invent a low-cost device called QuitPuff, which can detect the risk of developing oral cancer.
Initially, her project wasn’t taken seriously because she was ‘young’, but she kept trying. She has tested the device in hospitals and keeps working on improving the device to launch it in the market. She has also received many awards and research grants that help her sustain the project.
Langston Whitlock: Helping Elderly Have a Safe Trip
After learning that the homeless and elderly were facing transportation problems to get to medical appointments, Langston got the idea of building the ride-sharing app, SafeTrip, in 2018.
His app lets patients, caretakers, and healthcare providers book medical transportation. Moreover, the payment for the rides can also be made using insurance. Safe Trip has raised $2.3 million in funding and crossed revenue of $3.4 million.
Now 20 years old, Langston leads a team of people older than him. His company not only provides safe and affordable rides but also trains high school seniors to become SafeTrip drivers after graduation.
Sreelakshmi Suresh: Hobby to Web Design Agency
Designing websites used to be a hobby for 11-year-old Sreelakshmi. She decided to turn it into a full-fledged business and founded eDesign Technologies.
Starting from the website for her school, she has designed websites for over 250 clients over 8 years. Her clientele includes some reputed names. Her business thrives mainly from word-of-mouth.
Femi Adebogun: Simplifying Scholarships Application
Financing education is a big problem in the USA, and Femi took it upon himself to solve it. He founded ScholarMe, at 16, to simplify how high school and college students paid their tuition fees.
His website allows students to apply for all their financial aid at a single place that too cost-effectively. So far, his company has got funds of $4.2 million from 8 investors.
Interestingly, he hired remote employees and tried to hide his age, but eventually, they found out when the company won an award.
Hriday Dhand: Caring for the Health of Vegans
13-year-old Hriday from a family of vegans got concerned about the lack of critical nutritional values in their diet. After some research, he came up with the idea for his nutritional supplement product, Strength-O-Seeds.
His product, made from dried fruits and seeds, aims to help vegans fulfil their daily protein and other nutrients requirements. He has also discussed his business plan with the chairman of the Marico group (a leading consumer goods brand).
Erin Smith: Small Observation to Big Idea
While watching a video, 16 years old, Erin observed something that would shape FacePrint.
She noticed that Parkinson’s patients’ laughs or smiles seem emotionally distant. This led her to build FacePrint – a diagnostic system that captures changes in facial expressions to diagnose and monitor disorders like Parkinson’s.
Her technology is undergoing clinical trials at Stanford University. She has also received support and funding from some pharmaceutical companies.
Brandon and Sebastian Martinez: Socking Millions
11-year-old Sebastian’s obsession with patterned socks gave birth to Are You Kidding Socks. The Martinez brothers started designing socks and, with the help of their mother, found a manufacturer.
Their socks became a hit and even made them appear on the show Good Morning America. The company sold $1 million worth of socks. They also launched a Charity Socks collection which shares a portion of sales with charitable partners.
Their future plans include the expansion of their business to manufacturing t-shirts, hats, and shoes.
Ananya Gupta: Driving Change with Grit Parity
Karnataka-based high school student Ananya is a gender equality advocate. Her observation that there is a lack of equal gender representation in school textbooks led her to build a tool called Grit Parity.
Grit Parity is a platform where you can upload your textbook to check whether the book has equal gender representation. Her goal is to ensure the education system facilitates gender equality not just in India but the world over.
She has also received funding from Amazon Web Services and plans to expand her work internationally.
Kenan Pala: Creating Impact through Kids4Community
Kenan from San Diego has been passionate about helping others. He was surprised to find that he could not volunteer for a lot of causes as he was underage. Like him, many other kids also wanted to volunteer.
He took the matter into his own hands and founded his non-profit organisation Kids4Community, where any kid can volunteer. So far, he has raised over $1 million from charitable events, corporates donations for various causes to support the community.
He plans to hand over the organisation to his younger brother once he enrols in college.
Ayushi Aggarwal: Making STEM Accessible
16-year-old Ayushi is the founder of an international non-profit organisation Unknown16. Her organisation runs projects to help young girls and underprivileged children develop a passion for STEM subjects.
Unknown16 encourages children to develop ideas to solve social issues and become leaders of tomorrow. Ayushi has also been invited to speak at the UN Climate Action Summit and gained support for her initiative all over.
Sky’s the limit for you
All these teenprenuers are proof that you have all the power to achieve whatever you want.
From making a difference in the world to making profits, your passion and your ideas have all it takes to build your career as an entrepreneur. So, what are you waiting for?
Start connecting with other teens who are passionate about entrepreneurship on Power Club today!