Archive for Health – Page 2

Nohbo-Ben Sterns environmentally friendly product

Ben Stern’s passion for nature and worries about the environment drove him to start Nohbo. This company creates technologies for consumer goods products that fully dissolve and leave no trace behind. Stern decided to target the issue of plastic pollution at the root by trying to eliminate plastics. He figured out how to encapsulate your favorite personal care products in a fully water-soluble film. For example, you can have your shampoo in a fully dissolvable film.

Ben founded Nohbo when he was a freshman in high school after he discovered the harm that was being caused by single-use plastics. He was later featured on Shark Tank where he was able to land a deal with Mark Cuban. His company also gained a lot of visibility because of all the viewers that tune into the show. Nohbo has grown quite a bit since the show and is currently based in Palm Bay, FL.

They sell 3 dissolvable products which include, Drops, Hydrofill, and slips. Nohbo has found a big market in the consumer-packaged goods industry and hospitality industry as well. New legislation has been a large factor in how they found out about Nohbo. The push towards being environmentally friendly and sustainable has been a positive for Stern’s company as his product can help serve those who believe in that.

Nohbo owns and operates another company, Sunrise Session. As you could guess, it is a single-use, plastic waste-free self-care innovation brand. Their single-use remedies free you from your plastic obsession and deliver the same quality as other brands.

I appreciate the true problem solver that Stern is. He wasn’t afraid to jump in and tackle a huge problem which has allowed him to create a huge impact with lots of potential for growth.

Tim Moxey & “Nuun”

At 26 years old, Tim Moxey came up with the basic idea for his now multi-million dollar business: Nuun hydration. While taking an entrepreneurship class at the Tuck School of Business, he was tasked with developing a product idea and a fictitious business plan. As an avid cyclist and triathlete, he had recently become frustrated with the lack of electrolyte drinks that could adequately replenish the electrolytes lost during extended periods of intense exercise. At the time, most stores only carried Gatorade, which Moxey found too sweet with its huge amounts of added sugar. For the project, he decided to explore a product that could solve a problem he was facing regularly.

As a solution, Moxey developed the concept for Nuun: a self-dissolving, portable, sugar-free tablet packed with electrolytes. At the time, Moxey had no intentions of ever building Nuun into a real business. After graduation from Tuck, Moxey held several corporate positions, but Nuun always resided in the back of his mind. Eventually, in 2004, he decided to officially launch the company.

Nuun has been extremely successful among endurance athletes all over the world; it turns out, many other athletes were in search of a better electrolyte drink, just like Moxey. After many prototypes and trials, Nuun grew into the product it is today: a hydration tablet containing essential electrolytes that you simply drop into a glass of water. The tablet dissolves into the water on its own, leaving you with a delicious, refreshing electrolyte drink. Since Nuun avoids excess amounts of added sugar, it is also a healthier hydration alternative to popular hydration drinks like Gatorade.

Today, Nuun comes in over a dozen different flavors, from Strawberry Lemonade to Orange to Fruit Punch. Nuun also offers a variety of hydration types, including ‘Sport,’ ‘Daily,’ ‘Immunity,’ ‘Energy,’ ‘Vitamins,’ and ‘Rest.’ With its wide array of products, Nuun offers a hydration option for everyone.

Tim Moxey is an excellent example of a young entrepreneur who used a problem in his own life to inspire a business idea that could solve the problem. He is also an ‘accidental entrepreneur’ who never planned on owning a business. Instead, his passion for the problem led him to success. Young entrepreneurs can look to Moxey as an example of someone who harnessed his own passion to solve a problem through a new product.

 

Lily Born-Inventor of Kangaroo Cups

Lily Born is a young girl that had a grandfather that struggled with Parkinson’s disease. He would often struggle keeping drinks still, and as a result there would be a ton of spills. Even at the young age of 8 years old she realized how much of an issue that was. She sought out to find a solution to this pain. Lily came up with the idea of a 3-legged cup that will not tip called the Kangaroo Cup. After prototyping with clay, she came up with a tripod cup design that would prevent spills from the user. At the age of 16 years old she has sold over hundreds of thousands of cups and made an impact around the world. At her age it is remarkable to have problem solving skills that would solve the pains of coping with a heartbreaking disease and more. To learn more about her visit 10 Successful Young Entrepreneurs (investopedia.com), and  Lily Born | A Mighty Girl | Cusp Conference.

Sarkis Hakopdjanian with The Business Clinic

Sarkis Hakopdjanian has a wide range of knowledge. He started in a Bachelor of Science program in order to go to medical school and then switched to a business major and completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree. Entering the corporate world, Sarkis was educated and trained in marketing, management, and sales in a financial services company. After ten years in business, he was injured and took time to recover, simultaneously enrolling in the psychology program at a university to study human behavior. Fascinatingly, Sarkis took the combined knowledge of all of these areas—science and medicine, business, and psychology—and founded The Business Clinic with the mash-up of practices. The Business Clinic is a business and marketing consulting agency that supports health practitioners. This concept is innovative; it is the only business and marketing consulting agency that is geared toward the health in wellness industry in all of Alberta, Canada. Sarkis Hakopdjanian continues to learn an extensive range of concepts. He has read about the experiences and knowledge of other entrepreneurs in books and articles, reads a scientific paper in a field that he has not yet explored each week. He is subscribed to courses that provide information from numerous expert sources about new developments in business and marketing. Even the book that he recommends is a book that is comprised of many essays by leaders in various areas of study. Sarkis clearly values the intake and synthesis of knowledge, and he is able to put some of his knowledge to use in his business. He demonstrates the value of learning both in school and on his own.

Elizabeth Holmes: the Entrepreneurial journey filled with scandal

Elizabeth Holmes was a young entrepreneur who started the company Theranos at the age of 19. Holmes was a student at Stanford University when she came up with the idea for Theranos, a healthcare technology company that claimed to have developed a revolutionary blood testing device. The device was supposed to be able to conduct a wide range of blood tests using only a small amount of blood, which would make blood testing more convenient and accessible.

Holmes dropped out of Stanford to pursue her business idea, and quickly gained significant attention and investment for Theranos. The company grew rapidly, and was valued at over $9 billion at its peak. Holmes was hailed as a brilliant and visionary entrepreneur, and was featured on the cover of major magazines.

However, Theranos faced controversy and legal challenges. The company was accused of making false claims about its blood testing technology, and was eventually investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). In 2018, Holmes was charged with multiple counts of fraud by the SEC and the DOJ. She settled with the SEC, agreeing to pay a fine and to be banned from serving as an officer or director of a public company for 10 years.

Despite the controversy and legal challenges, Holmes’ story remains an example of a young entrepreneur who pursued her vision and achieved significant success at a young age. However, the eventual downfall of Theranos serves as a cautionary tale about the risks and challenges of starting a business.

Fit Fuel

Sean Kelly had a very intriguing idea with his business Fit Fuel. He took an idea that was already invented and made it his own. Vending machines are very convenient for people to grab a quick snack or a quick drink. They even have vending machines in gyms which can defeat the purpose of a workout. When he was in college he came up with Fit Fuel. His business sold healthy foods to be put into vending machines. Eventually, by 2007, he was able to sell vending machines filled with healthy foods. This business was called H.U.M.A.N Healthy Vending. He partnered with Andy Mackensen to help fund this business along with Fit Fuel partners. Within the vending machines consisted of protein bars, yogurt, gluten-free products, and other healthy food options. Sean’s plan was to be the leading anti-obesity company in the country. To also help this cause, 10% of the proceeds are given to obesity-fighting and malnutrition charities. It is very clever how he built his idea from other ideas and that he is also giving back. He first came up with this idea by watching a women grab a coke before going on the elliptical. This shows that ideas can come from anything and anywhere. It is important to know that any idea can make a difference. In this instance, Sean just needed to observe in order to come up with something that could improve the product in this situation.

TALA — Grace Beverley

Nobody likes wearing someone’s old athletic wear, especially if it’s leggings or undergarments. That’s just gross. Well, Grace Beverley thought the same thing. With a passion for sustainability, Beverley thrifted a lot and tried to buy from sustainable brands. She noticed that plenty of sustainable brands existed for most clothing. But not for athletic wear. And since nobody likes thrifting someone’s old, sweaty socks or leggings, Beverley decided to create a brand herself. Her company, TALA, creates styles made from plastic bottles and factory offcuts, making it sustainable and ethical, two things she feels very passionately about. 

Originally, Beverley was a music major at Oxford University. But when she realized she had a passion for sustainable clothing, she took to a different side of the creativity spectrum: Entrepreneurship. She wanted people, specifically young people, to have a sustainable option for their athletic clothes that wouldn’t also drain their bank accounts. And so, TALA was born in 2019. Beverley stuck to her passion and through TALA, she managed to recycle seventy-thousand water bottles in her first year alone.

But TALA isn’t Beverley’s only business. She has also started a fitness app called SHREDDY which offers her activewear customers (and anyone else) a place to set goals and track their fitness progress. And if that’s not enough, she is also the Sunday Times bestselling author of “Working Hard, Hardly Working,” a book that seeks to teach young entrepreneurs how to accomplish more under less stress. 

When asked about her “eureka” moment, Grace Beverley stated that she never had one, that it was more of a build-up of idea after idea. And I think this is the perfect example of the slow hunch, the idea that starts as a seed and grows. Grace Beverley and the invention of TALA started as a hunch and is now a multimillion dollar business that encourages people to stay fit and recycle.

 

https://balance.media/founder-focus-grace-beverley/#:~:text=Grace%20Beverley%20is%20the%20Founder,of%20just%2023%20years%20old.https://www.wearetala.com/en-us/pages/about-ushttps://thetab.com/uk/2022/02/09/grace-beverley-reveals-exactly-how-she-secured-her-5-7mil-recent-investment-in-tala-239535

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/442770/working-hard-hardly-working-by-beverley-grace/9781786332851

 

SAFETRIP

SAFETRIP is a wonderful app designed to book non-emergency and emergency medical transport for the elderly, veterans, homeless, and anyone else in need. Surprisingly, this revolutionary idea was co-founded by young engineer Langston Whitlock. 

At 12 years-old,  Langston was learning to code and fell in love with it. Eventually, Langston used his newfound knowledge to make an app to contact his absent father. With these skills, Langston was later brought on to the SAFETRIP team by Ja’Nese Jean. 

Ja’Nese Jean, a co-founder of SAFETRIP, birthed the idea when witnessing a homeless veteran not having access to healthcare or transportation. Knowing Langston’s skillset, she invited him to the developing team to collaborate together and make the revolutionary app come to life. 

This app allows its users to book emergency or non-emergency transportation. Vehicles include premium cars, vans, wheelchair accessible vehicles, and ambulances as needed. 

Since its creation, SAFETRIP has raised over 2 million dollars in funding because of Langston’s technology. Although it’s currently based in Georgia, the company hopes to soon expand into other parts of the country and make an even bigger impact. 

Kenan Pala – Kids4Community

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.

Zepto

Zepto is an Indian company founded by Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra. Just like every student who graduated in 2020, they had looked forward to their graduation, but COVID-19 had other plans. Since Stanford had gone completely online, the two of them stayed in their respective homes in India and had a significant amount of time to just think. Grocery shopping, as I’m sure populations across the globe would agree, had become more difficult with the onset of rules that came with the pandemic. A lot of India’s grocery-store apps were lacking, providing neither speedy delivery or accurate deliveries, and the two realized that they could create something better. Zepto is an app that promises groceries that are delivered in 10 minutes or less. According to Forbes, “Today, their company, Zepto, which is just under two years old, delivers hundreds of thousands of orders per day; generates several hundred million dollars in annual revenue; and has raised over $360 million in funding from investors like YC Continuity, Contrary Capital, Glade Brook Capital Partners, and Lachy Groom, most recently a Series D that values the company at over $900 million.”

India is obviously a very dense and chaotic place which makes time extremely variable. The edge over other companies comes from the condensed time within the dark store, from packing to checkout. In the Forbes article they were able to interview Aadit who said, “On the software side, we built things like a navigation system for packers to find the most ideal path inside the dark store; a scanning system to give packers the ability to scan and automatically verify items; a color-coded system on riders’ devices so that they can match their orders faster during the handshake process between packer and rider instead of looking at an order ID.On the operational side, it comes down to the way we designed racks, chillers, freezers, and handover stations. Even the way we designed the SKU maps takes into account having the fastest-moving products near the exit. Everything is built for maximum speed efficiency.”

Similar to what we have discussed in class, the idea of a quick online grocery-shopping app already existed. The two simply took the structure that already existed and improved upon it. They took the time that many deemed unfortunate and transformed prior prototypes into something extremely profitable. Zepto will most likely be making billions of dollars in revenue within the next 1-5 years, according to Aadit. They started small, and now they are scaling their business 3-5x. It really makes one think and look around for the next thing that might need improved upon. This was something that was made necessary by the pandemic, and they filled that need. It’s as simple as that. 

 

Forbes article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenli1/2022/10/10/they-raised-360-million-after-dropping-out-of-stanford-and-built-a-grocery-delivery-app-now-worth-900-million/?sh=f7a4aae3e7d9

Zepto website: https://www.zeptonow.com/