- What is exemplary or unique about these young entrepreneurs? Jack Kim is a young entrepreneur who used his web skills and his passion for charity to create Benelab, a search engine that donates its ad revenue to charity.
- What drives them? According to an article in GreyJournal titled Top 10 Teen Entrepreneurs To Watch For 2022, the author explains that “In fact, that was part of Kim’s reasoning behind his idea, to make philanthropy more accessible to the people.” Kim’s want to increase charity accessibility is what drives him with Benelab.
- What makes their idea or business model interesting? What makes this idea interesting is the fact that he used technology to impact social change. The article details how Jack Kim is an avid tech user, and that he has much experience building websites. Kim’s ability to use an already acquired skillset to benefit something he is passionate about is what makes this idea interesting.
- What entrepreneurial traits do they demonstrate? Jack Kim demonstrates a number of entrepreneurial traits with his idea, Benelab. Kim demonstrates innovation, passion, adaptability, being open-minded, and being proactive. He wanted to make philanthropy more accessible, so he went out and made it happen by leaning on his own set of skills.
- How are they innovating? Jack Kim is innovating through Benelab by expanding the search engine market. Search engines use ad revenue in a number of ways to benefit themselves. With Benelab, Kim has elected to donate all ad revenue to charitable causes. By doing so, Kim is changing the landscape of the search engine market.
- How do they specifically inspire you and help you in your own thinking about entrepreneurship and innovation? I think something that entrepreneurs often try to do is to think too outside of the box. Jack Kim thought of ways to innovate, but he did so on the basis that he would be using a skillset that he already had. He was able to use his passion for web making to develop an idea that filled the unmet need of his to make charity more accessible.
- What principles have you learned? Through Jack Kim, I have learned that if you are passionate enough about something, you can use it to impact people in so many ways. It also shows that there are always ways to innovate and improve upon existing ideas. If you find an unmet need and are passionate about filling it, then anything is possible.