Author Archive for Jared Shields

Bubble Ball Builder

Posted by Jared Shields 
· Saturday, December 10th, 2016 
· 2 Comments

In 2011 at the age of 14, Robert Nay coded the app bubble ball. He knew little to nothing about code before he decided to take on the endeavor. He learned all the coding from the library! He wrote over 4,000 lines of code for the app. The app was a huge success–seeing more than 2 million downloads in only two weeks! I encourage you to read some more about him if that interests you, Robert Nay. One more amazing part of Robert’s story is the advice that he gives young people, “You can do amazing things if you just try.”

2 Comments
Categories : App

Are You Kidding?

Posted by Jared Shields 
· Monday, December 5th, 2016 
· 2 Comments

What were you doing when you were 5 years old? I know that i was playing with out a care in the world. That was not the case for 5 year old Sebastian Martinez who already started a business! At 5 he started a funky sock company called, “Are You Kidding?” He did it with the help from his older brother Brandon–also director of sales. In 2014, the small company made $15,000! Sebastian is a good example as to how someone with a passion and will can start a business at anytime of one’s life. Just check out the funky socks here.

2 Comments
Categories : Uncategorized

Palmer Luckey

Posted by Jared Shields 
· Monday, November 14th, 2016 
· 3 Comments

Ever since I was a kid, I have wanted to mess around with virtual Reality. Palmer was born and raised in California where he grew up with the same want that I had. Palmer is 24 years old and is the creator of the Oculus Rift VR headset. He developed the first prototype in 2011 in his parents’ garage. This prototype was the CR-1 and it featured a 90-degree field of view. He continued to improve the module until he reached the 6th-generation, which was named ‘Rift.’ He sold his first 100 headsets as self assemble products. A man named John Carmack was one of those 100 customers. He improved the module and showcased it at the 2012 E3. Palmer dropped out of college to work on the Oculus Rift which had become virtually famous in one day. Palmer’s net worth in 2015 was $700 million! Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion in 2014. Palmer followed his passion for VR and became a billionaire doing it! Talk about a successful entrepreneur!

3 Comments
Categories : Great Ideas, Technology

Essmart

Posted by Jared Shields 
· Thursday, October 20th, 2016 
· 2 Comments

Jackie Stenson is opening stores all over southern India to help people gain access to important household items. Jackie is a co-founder of Essmart and currently runs the American side of operations. Essmart was founded because Jackie and Diana (co-founder and over operations in India) noticed that the people of India lacked access to basic items. Among the items that Essmart provides are: clean water, lighting–including solar lighting options, and cooking equipment. Essmart is a great example of a modern social enterprise. I could not find a mantra so here is their mission statement. Essmart’s mission statement is to bring essential, life-improving products to all people, no matter who they are or where they’re from. They are really doing some amazing things for the people that they are reaching! Nothing that I can write can do them justice, please check out all the things that they provide to people in need Essmart.

2 Comments
Categories : Asia, Clean water, Social Entrepreneur, Solar Power

ReliefWatch

Posted by Jared Shields 
· Friday, October 7th, 2016 
· 1 Comment

Daniel Yu is a 30 year old entrepreneur that saw a problem that was costing lives. In developing countries, there is a problem with how pharmacies operate–particularly in the way they take inventory of stoked drugs. This is why he invited ReliefWatch! It is a cloud based application that helps pharmacies catalog their drugs. All the pharmacist has to have access to is a phone. This product helps pharmacists keep much needed products stocked! Daniel has saved many lives. Awesome side note–Daniel won the Prince of Wales Young Sustainability Entrepreneurs Prize in 2015! All Daniel did was look at a problem in a new way, and because of that, saved lives. If you would like to read more about RelifWatch, check it out here, Daniel Yu’s ReliefWatch

1 Comment
Categories : Uncategorized

Farmerline

Posted by Jared Shields 
· Monday, September 26th, 2016 
· 4 Comments

Alloysius Attah, saw a problem with the way that farmers operated in rural Ghana. There was a lot of wasted potential due to poor communication and knowledge. Alloysius took that opportunity to help them. He is the co-founder and CEO of Farmerline, a service that sends messages to the phones of rural farmers in Ghana. These messages send information about weather and market prices; they even used the system to send out warnings during the Ebola outbreak! Alloysius used his entrepreneurial skills to change the world for the better. He inspires me because he didn’t do something revolutionary by inviting a new product—all he did was use a system we already have to make the world a little better. I love knowing that helping people doesn’t always mean that you have to invent something totally new, rather it may only require a little change. Checkout Farmerline’s website to read more about the awesome work they do http://farmerline.co/about/

4 Comments
Categories : Agriculture, Technology