Jack Bonneau learned the value of entrepreneurship at the age of 8. Like many young children in need of money, he started a lemonade stand at his local farmer’s market. “In 12 weeks, I made $900 in profit,” he says. “I never knew anything like that was possible.”

He wanted to help other kids to realize this opportunity, so he launched a one stop shop for children’s commerce. Jack and his father would help local children set up a branded Jack’s Stands & Marketplaces stand for $15. They would spend about 30 minutes helping to get the small operation up and running, then leave for multiple hours while the children operated the stand.

Over the four years that Jack’s Stands was operated, hundreds of kids have operated thousands of stands around his city.

While Jack’s Stands was successful, Jack has been working on a new way to scale his venture and came up with Teen Hustl: a nonprofit organization that gives kids access to the gig economy. “My dad told me that back in the 1980s, millions of teens used to have their own paper routes and babysitting businesses,” Bonneau says. “I was like, Wow! Now, because of the internet, those jobs are being taken by adults. But teens are the most tech-savvy, so why not plug them in to that?” Jack has plans to partner with large corporations and make teen entrepreneurship easy and accessible.

Jack Bonneau is yet another example of what teen entrepreneurs are capable of. He found his passion for entrepreneurship and is selflessly making it more accessible and feasible for teens to explore the magic of entrepreneurship.

Riya Karumanchi’s grandmother is visually impaired. She struggled to navigate through her own home, which caught Riya’s attention and set her on a path of innovation. She came to the realization that the primary tool used by visually impaired individuals known as the white cane had barely changed in the last century, so she set out to change that.

Riya had always been extremely intelligent and motivated throughout her childhood – teaching herself how to code in the fourth grade and participating in countless youth innovation programs in Toronto. In talking to many visually impaired, she noticed a common trend in regard to the white cane: it was effective at identifying obstacles on the ground, but users were still vulnerable to things like errant branches and fallen twigs.

She knew that there had to be a better way and began working on a new technology that would help the visually impaired dubbed: SmartCane. SmartCane uses advanced ultrasonic sensors to identify a wide variety of obstacles and alert the user with vibrations.

With the help of four employees, Riya has raised over $85,000 towards her cause. She says: “Instead of [building] a company that has a valuation of a billion dollars, it’s the person that can impact a billion people,” she explains. “It’s ambitious, but that’s my goal.”

Riya Karumanchi has shown that the need for innovation is everywhere and if you put in the work necessary, success will follow.

From a young age, Maya Penn has had a passion for fashion. After consulting her mother about her plans of creating a sustainable fashion collection, her mother’s response was in part what drove her to pursue her passion. “Figure out how to do that and what you need to accomplish that goal.” says Maya’s mother – and so, her journey began.

At the age of ten, Penn began crafting innovative clothing – ultimately teaching herself HTML and making her own website to sell her apparel. Today her Atlanta-based fashion line, Maya’s Ideas, has 10 employees, and customers around the world. “That first sale was so crazy to me, and still is,” Penn says. “It’s an honor when people like what you create. It keeps me moving forward.”

While Maya still has a passion for fashion, she has found interest in other things, too. Including a nonprofit, Maya’s Ideas 4 the Planet, which distributes eco-friendly sanitary products to women in developing countries. Maya has also joined the fight to get a national women’s history museum built in Washington, D.C., creating an animated short that was presented to congress. After that, she launched an animation studio, has given three ted talks, and is currently working on her second book.

“I’m always pushing myself to do more, but that can take a lot out of you, especially when you’re still trying to figure out who you are,” she says. “You have to find ways to calm yourself. Take a walk. Read a book. Stay grounded. Taking care of yourself makes you a better entrepreneur.”

Maya Penn is a role model for many entrepreneurs. She has been the catalyst for social change around the world and continues to prove that through hard work comes success.

Kenan Pala has always been one to help others. From a young age, he was determined to find ways he could help people in need; volunteering at homeless shelters, soup kitchens and more. The problem? “There are a lot of nonprofits doing great things in San Diego, but many don’t allow kids under the age of 18 to volunteer”.

Due to these age restrictions, Pala was not able to help as much as he wanted to, so he came up with a solution. In 2017, Pala founded nonprofit organization Kids4Community with the goal of helping kids help others. He knew from personal experience that so many kids around San Diego wanted to help but were simply turned away by organizations. “All our events are open to anybody of any age,” says Pala. “If you have the passion, you can come.”

Since its founding in 2017, Pala has helped raise over 1 million dollars for local homelessness causes, while also engaging kids to help out with 5K runs, dinner services, and backpack drives.

Kenan Pla is a testament to what it means to be an entrepreneur. He found a problem, came up with a solution, and executed his plan.

In November of 2010, Hart Main’s sister began selling homemade candles to her classmates. As one would imagine, the scents she sold were generally intended for other girls – lavender, flowers, etc. Main joked with his sister that she should make scents that favored boys who didn’t want their room to smell ‘girly’. His mother thought this idea had merit. Seeing the potential market for manly candles, she encouraged her son to give his idea a shot.

“I do that with all of my kids — I listen to them,” Amy Main says. “Even if it sounds like they’re joking, if their idea sounds like something they can do, by all means, I tell them to go for it.”

After the local media caught wind of Main’s up and coming entrepreneurial ventures, his orders skyrocketed. The quick traction initially led Main to consider broadening his selection of candles, but after reconsideration, he decided it would be best to stick with his eight core offerings: New York Style Pizza, Grandpa’s Pipe, Sawdust, Campfire, New Mitt, Fresh Cut Grass, Coffee and, of course, Bacon.

ManCans is doing quite well – averaging 300 orders per week. In addition to generating revenue, Main has demonstrated his aspirations to help his community.

“Main makes the candles in soup cans, so he purchases soup and donates it to local soup kitchens. He then returns the empty cans and he and his mother make the candles in their kitchen. He orders oils from suppliers around Ohio and combines them with the wax.”

Main has demonstrated true entrepreneurship is: recognizing a need, finding solutions, and making the idea a reality.