Kenan Pala is the founder of the non-profit Kids4Community. 

His idea for Kids4Community started while on a run along the beach with his father. There, he saw a stranded seal along the beach which caught the attention of many passers-by to come to its aid. He noticed that this amount of “aid” was not given to many poor/homeless individuals in his community. In his community, he watched as people casually walked by the homeless giving them no attention at all. 

So in an effort to change this, he started Kids4Community.

The primary goal of Kids4Community is to encourage other students around the globe to get involved in their communities. This non-profit helps benefit homeless people by setting different cereal donations and raising money for local food shelters. Today, Kids4Community has raised over $1 million dollars for homelessness. Kenan Pala is also currently in the web3 space at Yale University, working on different projects that he hopes to launch soon.

Picture: https://kidpreneurs.org/interview-with-kenan-pala-creator-of-kids4community/

Ritesh Argarwal is the founder and CEO of OYO Rooms, India’s best online hotel and living space booking site. 

From an early age, Ritesh discovered his love for coding. He would spend a majority of his time learning how to code, even at the age of 8. But as his love for coding began to develop, so did his entrepreneurial mind and spirit. In his early teens, he began to sell SIM cards to nearby towns and villages which eventually got him closer to his dream of becoming a businessman. By selling SIM cards, he was able to find different ways of detecting problems in his community and country. Using what he has learned from selling SIM cards, he was able to notice a major problem within the budget hotel sector in India. India at the time had very few hotel booking websites that were suitable for foreigners and visitors. This eventually led him to launch his business venture called “Oravel Travels” in early 2011.

Oravel Travels, which was heavily modeled after Airbnb, found different ways that foreigners and travelers could easily discover different apartments, hotels, and private rooms all across India. It brings extremely affordable accommodation that guests from all over the world can book comfortably. 

OYO Rooms eventually expanded to become what it is today; OYO Hotels & Homes. It is a full-fledged hotel chain that includes more than 43,000 hotels across 80 different countries. 

Ritesh also went on to win multiple different awards for his company, such as becoming the first Asian to win the ‘20 under 20’ award as well as TiE-Lumis  Entrepreneurial Excellence Award. 

Today, with a networth of over $1.1 billion, Ritesh is the second youngest self-made billionaire in the world. OYO Rooms also earned nearly 48 billion Indian rupees in 2022, which is some of the highest numbers the company has ever seen throughout its history.

Howard Shultz was born in a relatively poor family and spent most of his childhood in a small, one-bedroom apartment. When Howard was 7 years old, while delivering diapers, his father fell on ice and broke his leg. Because of this incident, Howard’s father was fired from his job. And with no medical insurance, savings, and source of income, his family was struggling. This was a huge moment in Howard’s life, as he felt hopeless; dreaming of a better life. 

Howard’s journey with Starbucks began in 1981. At the age of 29, after a full year of convincing Starbucks’ owners to hire him, he finally got a job at Starbucks. While working there, he had the opportunity to try Sumatra coffee for the first time and talk with other coffee enthusiasts about how to roast coffee beans and how coffee was made. 

In 1982, Howard was able to move from his hometown of New York to Seattle, where he became part of the company’s director of operations and management. A year later, in 1983, Howard went to Italy to experience a variety of Italian coffee bars and the coffee experience here. He liked how the Italians built their “coffeehouse tradition” and wanted to bring that to America. He wanted to establish a place that not only served exceptional coffee but also brought human connection, meaningful conversations, and a strong sense of community.

 Howard left Starbucks for a short amount of time to start his own Il Giornale coffee houses but returned in August 1987 as chief executive officer to purchase Starbucks. Under Howard,  Starbucks was able to grow significantly, expanding to over 3,000 stores all over the world. In 2000, Howard stepped down from the CEO position to focus more on international expansion, serving as the global chief strategist and chairman. He returned as CEO in January 2008, and wanted to put a strong emphasis on innovation and enhancing the overall customer experience at Starbucks. He wanted customers to feel welcomed and connected.  Today, Starbucks has expanded from 15,000 to nearly 30,000 stores worldwide. Starbucks is worth nearly $110 billion and is located in over 84 different countries.

Jack Ma was born and raised from a very poor family in the midst of China’s cultural revolution. His determination and dedication shone from a very young age. As an example of this, as a teenager, he guided tourists for free, all in an effort to improve his English skills.

But, during the hardest times of his life, all he ever faced was rejection after rejection. Without much money or connections in his family, Jack Ma knew that education was the only route that could help him get ahead in life. After high school, he applied to go to college and university, but failed the entrance exam twice. After a great deal of studying, he finally passed on the third try, going on to attend Hangzhou Teacher’s Institute. He graduated in 1988 and started applying to as many jobs as he could. However, after over 30 different job applications he was rejected from every single one of them. Even when he applied to KFC, he was the only one who got turned down out of 24 people. But, these rejections only made him stronger. 

In 1995, when the internet was starting to bloom, he was surprised that there were no results on the internet when he searched “beer”. This was what led him to come up with an idea of an online marketplace called “Alibaba”. This is a site that allows sellers to post product listings that other customers could buy directly through the online marketplace. 

But even after starting Alibaba, the company had trouble getting traction which almost forced Jack Ma to go bankrupt. So, he convinced 17 of his friends and family to help invest in his vision because he truly believed in his idea. Within a short amount of time, Alibaba started to attract members from all over the world. By October 1999, the company had raised over $5 million from Goldman Sachs and over $20 million from SoftBank, a Japanese telecom company that also invests in technology companies. (Businessinsider.com)

Soon enough, Alibaba became the largest e-commerce store in the entire world. 

Today, Jack Ma is the richest man in all of China, with a net-worth of over 31 billion dollars, which includes his 7.8% stake in Alibaba and a nearly 50% stake in payment processing service Alipay.

His story teaches us that we can truly accomplish anything that we put our mind into. He was able to go from what many people considered a “failure” to one of the richest men in the entire world.

Melanie Perkins, the CEO and Co-Founder of Canva always had a passion and desire for design. She came up with the idea for Canva back in 2007, when she was just 19 years old. It started in university, when she was teaching design to her fellow classmates. She then realized that most of the equipment and programmes were way too expensive and complex. 

She envisioned a future where none of this would be a problem. 

After a lot more research, Melanie then embarked on the journey to turn her vision into a reality. 

She was able to team up with Cliff Obrecht, the other co-founder of Canva. 

They both envisioned a tool that would be extremely user-friendly and cheap. 

Melanie and Cliff’s journey started in a small apartment, where they encountered countless obstacles on a daily basis. With very little business experience behind them, the couple started small and created an online school yearbook design business called “Fusion Books” to test out their idea.

They then launched a website for students to collaborate and design different ideas for articles. The pair would then print the yearbooks and deliver them to schools all across Australia. Not before long, Canva was winning over major investors and building out a design platform with a fast-growing team of tech engineers.

Today, Canva is one of the most valued female-led startups in the world. The company raised over $200 million in cash and declared a $40 billion valuation in September of 2021. Canva also has reportedly helped in creating more than 3.5 billion designs across 185 different countries with over 60 million active users. Forbes also recognises Melanie Perkins as one of the “Top Under 30 of the Decade” in 2020. With a net worth of over $3.43 billion, Perkins debuted on The Australian Financial Review Rich List in 2020.

Aline Morse is an 18 year old American entrepreneur, and the CEO of Zolli Candy.

 From a young age, Aline has always had a bold vision to redefine the way people interact with one another especially in terms of children’s health. Aline’s innovative spirit has led her to create a company that has not only achieved remarkable success but has also reshaped the landscape of the candy industry.

Her journey began from a very young age, when she displayed a natural entrepreneurial spirit, always eager to explore new ideas and opportunities. Alina Morse was only seven years old when she went to the bank with her dad one day and the teller offered her a lollipop. She said “My parents always told me that sugar was terrible for my teeth. I declined the teller’s offer and asked “Why can’t we make healthier candy?” Aline’s journey then expanded, when she identified a gap in the market for healthier candy options. She noticed that the candy market didn’t consist of many sugar-free, healthier options. She noticed that all of the candies were extremely “toxic” and bad for children’s teeth and health. She envisioned a company that could provide delicious candies without the harmful effects of excess sugar. These concerns lead her to create Zolli Candy.  

The Zolli candies company name was actually created by Alina’s younger sister, Lola Morse, who came up with the name Zollipops when she tried to pronounce one of the teeth-friendly ingredients. Alina was looking for a catchy name, Lola said “Zollipops,” and that was how the company name was created. Zollipops specializes in producing sugar-free and gluten-free candies that are not only delicious but also good for oral health. Zolli Candy has disrupted the traditional notion that candy is synonymous with sugar and has introduced a range of products that cater to health-conscious consumers.

Moreover, Aline Morse dedication to health and wellness also extends beyond her products. She actively promotes oral health awareness and education, emphasizing the importance of proper dental care and nutrition. Through Zolli Candy, she encourages children and adults to make smarter choices when it comes to their sweet indulgences. Besides all of her achievements in the business world, Aline Morse also is very active in giving back to the community. She has used her success to support charitable causes and initiatives that benefit children’s health and well-being. These efforts from Aline reflect her commitment to making a positive impact, something that she dreamed of doing from a young age.