PC: Jung Kim, Forbes
Named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in 2014 Olenka Polak is one to watch. Olenka’s parents immigrated to the United States before she was born and had been translating for them her entire life. In 2012, Olenka’s family went to the movies together. Olenka did not realize how much less enjoyable it was for her parents because they did not speak English well. From that the idea for MyLingo was born. The idea is that an app on your phone that translates movies into any language you need.
A revolutionary idea caused Olenka to drop out of Harvard. But she seems to be doing okay. Sometimes a revolutionary idea necessitates a massive leap. While her idea has not yet reached massive success, she is well on her way. The app is targeted toward 100 million customers worldwide. It will be interesting to watch Polak continue working towards her changing the way people go to the movies.
Again, another inspiring entrepreneur. It is cool to see entrepreneurs working on business ideas that will not only be a profit for them, but also goes beyond the mere entertainment value for consumers. Ideas like this have substance and could have spin off applications leading to even greater gains.
MyLingo has such a wide market that has a lot of potential to grow as our world is becoming more globalized. If she gets her foot in the door and defines that industry before someone else does, Olenka could be very successful.