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Archive for Education

Alinea- Eve Halimi and Anam Lakhani

Posted by Hannah Ya

· Friday, October 25th, 2024

· 2 Comments

Have you ever wanted to try out investing but was never taught very well, or do you want to know how to make some money passively? If you’re curious to learn more about investing, then Alinea is the solution for you! Alinea was founded by Anam Lakhani and Eve Halimi when they were only just 24 years old! They came up with the idea in class at Barnard College, Columbia University because they noticed that some of their classmates didn’t want to invest because they didn’t know a lot about it. They also realized that not knowing a lot about investing shouldn’t stop you from trying so they created Alinea, but what is Alinea? Alinea is an investing app that was created with Gen Z’s in mind to help them grow their investments. Alinea is also backed up by Harvard, Goodwater, Kima, Y Combinator and many others. Eve and Anam created this app because it can hard and tricky to understand financial markets, especially today. The internet and technology keep growing, and so do the opportunities to make money. Alinea is a great way for new investors to get more familiar with the stock market and they also offer an “inclusive community for new investors.”

In the app, there’s personalized investing recommendations and caters towards different demographics and generations. Another cool feature of the app is how users can even start investing with as little as $1 for fractional shares of stocks and EFTs. Not every investing app lets you start off with $1, and with the starting price being so low the risks are also pretty low. Alinea also has a feature called “playlists” that are groups of stocks that can be customized based on what your values or lifestyles are. There’s even the option to invest in female-founded companies and many others. Over the years, this app has $2.1 million in funding from a lot of strategic investors and even Hardvard! Alinea is SEC registered investment advisor, FINRA & SIPC Insured as a drivewealth partner, and bank-level security, and SSL & 256-bit encryption. Having all of these features makes investing safer and easier, with lower risks and a whole lot of learning without the stress! With an annual membership only being $96, you can get access to a whole lot of support and learning opportunities on how to invest! Check out their website here!

Sources:

ALINEA INVEST : FOUNDING STORY | Alinea Invest: Social Investing App for GenZ

ALINEA, NEW FEMALE-FOUNDED FINTECH AND Y COMBINATOR BACKED APP, REINVENTS CREATIVE INVESTING FOR GEN Z

2 Comments

Categories : Activism, App, App development, Education, Entrepreneurship, Female Empowerment, Investing, Software

Intertwined

Posted by williamsef24

· Sunday, September 29th, 2024

· 2 Comments

Intertwined is a business that helps people with the resources to learn about financial literacy. Kerry Ao and Naina Muvva are the cofounders, and they found that 80% of Americans do not have the know about financial literacy. Therefore, they created Intertwined to help people learn about this through a tailormade education platform using artificial intelligence.

Naina Muvva was just a junior in high school when she identified this need. Her and Kerry Ao were both in their business club, and they would teach their peers about stocks. They realized that they could expand this through using simulations and games by AI creation to teach more people about these concepts. The use of AI allows for questions to be rephrased to help the user learn information.

In two years, there were over 2,800 students nationwide using Intertwined. She further advanced her education by going to Washington University. Ms. Muvva majored in medical anthropology, but also used the WashU entrepreneurship program. She found much needed support and help there. She and her cofounded were named in Forbes “30 Under 30.”

In an interview with WashU, Ms. Muvva gives advice to other young entrepreneurs. She says that there will be setbacks, but those need to be expected. She also says the growth will not be all at once, but rather “wobbly,” still it needs work poured into it.

Check out Intertwined here!

2 Comments

Categories : AI, Education, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Uncategorized

Debbie Sterling & “GoldieBlox”

Posted by fiscuseg21

· Saturday, September 30th, 2023

· 2 Comments

Debbie Sterling (now 40) started her business “GoldieBlox,” at age 29 in 2012. GoldieBlox creates toys that introduce children (especially girls) to STEM at a young age. Their website includes categories of toys targeted at various ages ranging from 0-10 years.

As an engineering student at Stanford, Sterling couldn’t help but notice that she was one of the only girls in the department. Even worse, when it came to the hands-on part of her engineering classes, she struggled a lot more than the men did. Sterling realized the problem: boys grow up playing with hands-on, STEM-like toys (such as construction toys), but girls don’t. So, Sterling wanted to find a way to introduce young girls to STEM.

To solve this problem, Sterling created the first-ever girl engineering character: GoldieBlox. The “GoldieBlox” toy included a girl-targeted construction kit paired with a book that told a story about Goldie while guiding in the use of the toy.

Early on, Sterling faced rejection of her “GoldieBlox” toy at the International Toy Fair in NYC. Many people told her that girls “only want to play with princesses;” a STEM-related toy wouldn’t sell. However, Sterling truly believed in her idea, so she posted it on Kickstarter–and it was met with huge support. GoldieBlox received large amounts of funding and media coverage.

As GoldieBlox gained more sales and popularity, it received astounding recognition. GoldieBlox had a float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, won a free Super Bowl commercial, and was honored by the President.

Debbie Sterling is an incredible example of a young entrepreneur. She encountered a true problem and realized that it doesn’t just affect her, but also all little girls everywhere. Then, she applied a unique solution that no one else had discovered. Even after facing initial rejection, Sterling didn’t give up; she stayed true to herself and persevered, as all young entrepreneurs often have to.

2 Comments

Categories : Education, Engineering, Female Empowerment, Kids, STEM, Toys

Josh Feinsilber — Gimkit

Posted by williamslg21

· Monday, December 5th, 2022

· 2 Comments

Josh Feinsilber is the founder and CEO of Gimkit, a strategic game designed to assist learning in the classroom. The game is appealing to students because it lets them earn “currency” to win prizes. Gimkit has remained ad free, opting instead to offer subscriptions for more complex game packages. Gimkit also has team games available. It is designed to be used across many different subjects and even languages.

Josh Feinsilber created the game for a class project in 2017. After receiving good feedback about his project, he began to meet with the teachers and students at his school to make revisions based on their experiences and recommendations. Gimkit became wildly popular in just a year by word of mouth from teachers and students. Gimkit games are now played in over 100 countries by over 700,000 students. In 2019, Josh Feinsilber expanded his project and began working with Jeff Osborn. Together they worked on rebranding Gimkit, formerly known as Gimlet, and expanding their product to help shape and improve education. In an interview Josh Feinsilber has shared how he has learned through the process of creating a business. He said “Gimkit has shown me the importance of powerful education moments. Creating and running Gimkit has been the most educational experience I have ever had, and seeing students use this little game I made as a school project has shown me how awesome it feels to help students get more engaged in the classroom.”

Sources:

https://pglsinc.com/gimkit-a-new-game-in-town/

https://medium.com/gimkit/whats-next-for-me-and-gimkit-948a3459d275

https://www.thepioneercollective.com/blog/2019/7/17/tpc-member-spotlight-gimkit-josh-feinsilber-amp-jeff-osborn

2 Comments

Categories : Education

Kenan Pala – Kids4Community

Posted by petschkeRA22

· Monday, October 17th, 2022

· No Comments

Kenan Pala is the child of two Turkish immigrants (as of 1998) and was only 11 when he got an idea for a business. On a run at the beach with his father, Kenan saw passerbys trying to help a stranded seal. When he was being driven home, Kenan saw a poverty-stricken person asking for help. No one stopped to help. Struck by the comparison, Kenan researched homelessness in his home city San Diego and found it was #4 in the nation for highest homelessness rates. Kenan wanted to do something.

His opportunity arose in 2016 when he and his friends broke the Guiness World Record for the largest cardboard mosaic to raise awareness for local homelessness. Empowered by his success, Kenan created his charity Kids4Community in 2017.

Kids4Community is a charity that seeks to aid the homeless. Volunteers do things such as make meals for shelters and create programs which educate people of all ages about homelessness and the dangers of substance abuse. Kids4Community also aided hurricane and natural disaster victims with hygiene kids, as well as sending 400 low-income elementary school kids backpacks with school supplies. The charity is also responsible for organizing the cleaning of Mission Bay and supplying a local homeless shelter with 2,000 stockings in December 2017.

Due to this, Kenan was named one of the top 10 youth volunteers in the country in 2017 by the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards. Additionally, in 2018, the mayor of San Diego named January 23rd “Kenan Pala day.”

On top of his charity and accolades, Kenan is a fantastic runner who is not easily fazed by success. In 2018, he ran in the San Diego Rock ’n’ Roll Half Marathon, winning the boys 15-17 age division with a mile average of 5:57. Kenan runs a shocking 40-70 miles a week, often waking up at 4:30 AM to get started. Since he loves running, it’s no surprise he would use it to fundraise for his charity. Kenan hosted a 5k event to raise money to a housing program. He hopes to raise money for Kids4Community by running in the future, as well as run for Stanford University. Kenan even hopes that one day he might run in the Olympics in the 5,000 meters.

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Categories : Athletics, Charity, Education, Health, Homelessness, Housing, Kids, Male Entrepreneurs, Running, Social Entrepreneur, Social Impact, Sports, Teen Entrepreneurs, Youngest Entrepreneurs

John Feinsilber: Gimkit

Posted by hensontc21

· Sunday, September 25th, 2022

· No Comments

When John Feinsilber was in high school, he was assigned a class project, which today became more than just that. John took his idea and developed an education-based quiz platform. This platform is a mobile app where teachers can create quizzes in the form of games as a resource in their teaching. Students also can create questions that they submit to their teachers who then can accept. The game allows students to compete with one another to place on the leaderboard. John’s educational game also involves imaginary currency that students can win, and lose if they miss a question, to purchase upgrades and powerups.

John was driven by the idea of making learning more interesting and created a solution based on his own experiences. He states “Games really helped me become engaged in school. That’s why I built Gimkit — to be the kind of game I’d want to play in class.” This demonstrates the entrepreneurial mind of John seeing something missing in his experience and changing it for others. It shows a level of empathy in his innovation. The idea sprang from his own learning and now helps many with the same issue.

I am inspired by John’s product because the idea started from a class project. It shows how innovation can start anywhere, as long as you have the motivation to continue pursuing it. John saw a need in his life that is also shared among many other high school students and solved the problem by creating his app Gimkit.

No Comments

Categories : Academia, Education

Me and the Bees – Mikaila Ulmer

Posted by millerah21

· Tuesday, October 12th, 2021

· No Comments

Mikaila Ulmer isn’t just a typical young entrepreneur struck by a great idea, she was stung by one!

See the source image
When Mikaila was just 4 years old, she was stung by two bees within just one week! Finding it strange and interesting, Mikaila began to do tons of research on her own about everything related to bees. While Mikaila was in the middle of her fascinating research on bees, her parents had received an old 1940s cookbook from her grandma which contained many old traditional recipes. Around this time Mikaila was also encouraged by her family to try out for young business competitions in their area.
Thinking of possible inventions in her environment, Mikaila learned about how dangerously endangered bees have become over the years in America and was interested in making a product that could support them. So, after finding a small flax seed lemonade recipe in the old 1940s cookbook, Makaila decided to substitute the unhealthy sugar in the lemonade with all-natural honey from local beekeepers to support bee conservationists. Ever since then, Mikaila’s lemonade business, now called “Be Sweet” (Changed later to “Me and The Bees” due to copyright disputes), has skyrocketed and she was even featured on the famous tv show “Shark Tank”!

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Mikaila’s company had started small ten years ago but has grown exponentially by then. Mikaila’s products can even be found in several select retailers and restaurants and is increasing that number almost every year.

Mikaila has also written a book that released in August of 2020 called “Bee Fearless, Dream Like a Kid”, that documents her experience as a young entrepreneur and gives tips to future entrepreneurs like herself.

Mikaila’s story is very inspiring and gives a look at how most good ideas or inventions could come from something you are very passionate about.

Or an old cookbook.

Sources:

Mikaila Ulmer of Me & the Bees Lemonade | Microsoft In Culture

Meet Mikaila: CEO, entrepreneur and bee conservationist – YouTube

BeeSweet Lemonade Featured on CBS This Morning News – YouTube

Our Sweet Story – Me & the Bees Lemonade (meandthebees.com)

Teen Entrepreneur Mikaila Ulmer Turned Saving the Bees into a Multi-Million Dollar Empire – Capitalism.com

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Categories : Bees, Business, Creating, Education, Female Empowerment, Food, Great Ideas

Fixing Financial Planning

Posted by blendermannkj20

· Monday, September 27th, 2021

· 6 Comments

Do you know how to pay off student loans? Buy a home? Pay taxes? Well, that’s exactly what Rebecca Liebman was concerned about when she started LearnLux.

Personal finance isn’t covered in school, so young entrepreneur Rebecca Liebman came up with a solution to teach people about how to manage your money. LearnLux was started back in 2015 and is an online learning tool to explain different aspects of personal finance to anyone wanting to learn. Rebecca and her brother, both co-founders, came up with this solution after graduating college and wanting to relieve the stress that came with developing a financial plan. On the LearnLux website, it talks about their customers and says, “They are navigating the murky waters of the financial system alone, falling prey to predatory practices, and sinking deep into the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle.” This demonstrates that many people are worrying about finance in the modern world and shows the lack of education regarding this issue.

Their services include understanding equity compensation, funding emergency savings, building credit, and more. LearnLux also offers 1 on 1 calls with a certified Financial Planner in an unbiased manner. They advertise unbiased guidance, a configurable learning experience, and holistic teaching environment. They even have high quality lessons with digital planning for your financial plans, interactive content, and incentive and reward tools to keep you coming back!

Overall, this is a very clever idea and benefits both a common social problem as well as being a for-profit model that aims to make money. Rebecca saw a very clear need in the world and, along with her brother, developed a simple solution to help. Their primary drive was the lack of education regarding financial planning and how to communicate about these issues. Not only is LearnLux a creative solution to a common problem, but it includes different features to keep customers coming back and engaging with their product.

LearnLux is a great example of innovation and having entrepreneurial impact on the world. Rebecca saw a social problem, addressed it, and came up with an original way to help fix it. Everyone needs to learn how to manage finance, so maybe I’ll start using LearnLux too!

6 Comments

Categories : eCommerce, Education, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Social Entrepreneur

Catherine Cooke: myYearbook

Posted by hasseea20

· Monday, December 14th, 2020

· 3 Comments

Another relevant entrepreneur for students is Catherine Cook, creator of myYearbook, a free interactive online yearbook. At the age of fifteen Catherine and her seventeen-year-old brother Dave came up with the idea to be able to interact with more fellow students online. They quickly got their first investor from their web designer older brother and set to work. Soon after building their website, they combined with a user generated quiz site to garner many more interactions.

As they grew, Catherine’s business encountered some pivots as she tried to figure out what would work and what would not. At some points potential investors would want her to move headquarters or determine ad space. Ultimately, she stayed true to her business and vision and it paid off. MyYearbook.com was ranked one of the most popular sites for middle school and high school students in 2006. As her business grew, it attracted nicer advertisers like Disney and Neutrogena.

While she put time into growing it, as was a struggle for many school age entrepreneurs, school and grades started to suffer. Because being in the heart of her target market and being able to optimize her website with direct input and feedback made myYearbook more user friendly, it also became very overwhelming when trying to balance work and school. Later in her high school career Catherine found herself having to skip classes to work.

Yet through every obstacle and inconvenience, starting when she was just fifteen years old, Catherine Cook’s myYearbook has carved itself a niche for high schoolers and grown to 3 million members.

Cook kept up her business all throughout college, after which she sold myYearbook. She remains a partner however, working full time for the business. Catherine Cooke has become a very well-known entrepreneur, inspiring many young people to not let their age keep them from pursuing their big ideas.

3 Comments

Categories : App, Blog, Business, Challenge, Content Entrepreneurs, Creating, Education, Female Empowerment, Kids, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Reselling, Startups, Women Entrepreneurs, Youngest Entrepreneurs