Social Conscious Teen Entrepreneurs & Innovators
In this section, we highlight socially conscious teen entrepreneurs and innovators. Please help us by identifying teens that should be lauded for their social consciousness. Contact us at: teenbusiness@gmail.com
Teen Develops Mobile App That Analyzes Speech Patterns & Predicts If A Person Has Parkinson's Disease
Even at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, a top-ranked magnet school, senior Pooja Chandrashekar stands out among her brainiac peers. She’s got a 4.57 grade-point average, scored a 2390 (out of 2400) on the SAT, and aced all 13 of her Advanced Placement exams. But that not what makes her so special. What makes her great is that she also founded a national nonprofit organization that encourages middle-school girls to participate in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs. And just as important, she has developed a mobile app that analyzes speech patterns and predicts with 96 percent accuracy if a person has Parkinson’s disease.
Just an Ordinary Teenager Running a Global Youth Charity
Kiernan Goodwin and his associates are running The World Youth Organization -- an online platform where teenagers and young people can visit and find amazing opportunities in the fields they most enjoy. They include politics, environment, charity, volunteering, sport and more. Another aspect which makes WYO so unique is that most of our executive board and volunteers are all young people, because we believe a youth charity should be run by youths.
> Read Article In HuffingtonPost
How One 14-Year-Old's Dram To Help Underprivileged Girls Became A Big Success
At age 14, Allyson Ahlstrom started a non-profit organization, and nearly six years later, Threads for Teens is a nationally-recognized organization doing incredible work. The organization's mission statement explains that it aims to inspire confidence in young women by providing underprivileged teen girls with the opportunity to pick out a new outfit or two from the back of the company's mobile boutique, which is run out of the back of a pink 18-wheeler.
> Read Article
Teen inventor creates device for the visually impaired
How Trisha Prabhu Stops Cyberbullying At Its Source
15-year-old Trisha Prabhu of Naperville, Illinois, wanted to help young people make smarter decisions online—by preventing cyberbullying messages from ever being sent. She created ReThink, a browser extension that asks users to rethink potentially harmful messages before they post them. Trisha has spoken around the world about her invention, and hopes it will save lives.
Teen Entrepreneur's Decorative Sneakers Used In Finding Autism Cure
14 year-old Carley Schor is a high school student in Port Washington, NY, talented artist and founder of Carley’s Kicks for Cure. The story goes… she wanted to buy her own sneakers and decorate them with her artwork. As soon as she wore them to school, they became a ‘thing’ as these things tend to do in high school. Others wanted their own pairs so with the help of her parents she launched her business this past September. She also decided to donate half the money she raises to Autism charities.
Teen's Jewelry Business to Raise Human Trafficking Awareness
Carly Hartman may only be 18, but she has already created quite a stir with her humanitarian projects. Recently, Carly added a new line of jewelry called the Freedom Collection–a choice of two necklaces (“Free Him,” “Free Her”)–which donates 50 percent of the proceeds to organizations that support ending human trafficking. “We’re starting with Dream Center in L.A,” she said. “They house ex-prostitutes and do amazing things.”
10-Year-Old Girl Is Behind Philanthropic Crowdfuning Platform
Another day, another crowdfunding platform. This one is a little different, however. StandApp is a crowdfunding platform designed to raise money for nonprofits specifically on mobile devices. It's also the only one founded by a 10-year-old.
Teen Entrepreneur Makes Giving Back Top Priority
Katelyn Lohr is not your typical teenager. At age 13, she launched her own company, Freetoes Brand, Inc., to sell her invention: socks without toes, which are now sold across North America in stores like Toys R Us, Hallmark and Learning Express. Ketelyn's business has a charitable side which she takes very seriously.
> See Youtube Interview With Devin Thorpe of Forbes Magazine ( @devindthorpe )
The 16-Year-Old Girls From Ireland Who Won The Top Prize At The Google Science Fair
Using bacteria to combat the global food crisis? A trio of Irish 16-year-olds from Cork County, Ireland, came up with this project, which took the grand prize in the competition. After extensive tests, the students discovered that two naturally-growing strains of Rhizobium bacteria--which have a symbiotic relationship with legumes--speed up the germination process of barley and oats by 50%, and increase crop yield by an average of 30%.
> Read National Geographic Article by Linda Qiu
> Read Fastcompany Article by Ariel Schwartz
> Read Article in SweetyHigh.com
This Teen Feeds The Poor
You won't believe when he started. Watch his interview with Devin Thorpe, Forbes Magazine contributor (@devindthorpe)
15-year-old Eagle Scout Invents Game-Changing Device for Alzheimer’s Patients
This 15 year old won the Scientific American Science in Action Prize. His goal was to help his wandering grandfather with Alzheimer's stay safe and give his care giving aunt some peace of mind. Great minds (of all ages) solving great problems is one of the best things about the internet imho.
Slowing Deforestration In Kenya
Meet 18-year-old Tom Osborn. On seeing what deforestration had done to his community and country at large and he wanted to make a difference. He has embarked on a clean energy project producing smokeless charcoal briquettes and distributes cook-clean stoves throughout Kenya. He is a finalist for the Anzisha Prize, in Africa's most prestigious award for young entrepreneurs.
Teen's Anti-Bullying Program Gets Disney Award
At the 2014 Radio Disney Music Awards on April 26th, 2014, Matthew was awarded for his commitment to his community as one of three "Heroes for Change!" Shakira presented the awards. Matthew won for his anti-bully program, the Be O.N.E. Project.
Colorado High Schooler Invents Smart Gun That Unlocks With Your Fingerprint
Colorado has a history with gun violence so it’s only appropriate that 17-year-old Kai Kloepfer, a high school student from Boulder, would want to apply biometric user authentication to firearms. Kloepfer just won the $50,000 Smart Tech for Firearms Challenge for his smart gun prototype.
A "Yelp For Cops" To Rate The Police--And It Was Made By High School Students
Nine days after unarmed Michael Brown was shot by a police officer, and after days of police aiming tear gas, rubber-coated bullets, pepper balls, and beanbag rounds at protesters, a group of young students from Georgia released one response to the problem of police abuse: A new app that that lets citizens rate any interaction with a cop. At 14, 15, and 16 years old, the siblings have been dabbling in computer science and coding for several years through school programs like MIT’s Scratch, CodeAcademy, and app development classes at nearby Georgia Tech and Emory University.
12-Year-Old Boy Invents Sandbag Polymer To Help Block Water During Floods
To eliminate the gaps between sandbags that tend to let some water through, Peyton Robertson designed an interlocking fastener system that holds the bags in place as the polymer expands. The ingenious sandbag (and Peyton’s “commanding delivery, innovative thinking, and sound grasp of the scientific method”) won him first place in the prestigious Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge. He was the youngest winner in the contest’s history.
Early Stage HIV Test
Nicole Ticea, a Grade 10 student from Vancouver Canada who has developed an early-stage HIV test is headed to Ottawa to compete against other young scientists in an international competition. Using an isothermic nucleic acid amplification system, she developed a point-of-care HIV test with help from her Simon Frasier University mentors.
16-Year-Old Celebrity Chef Promotes Wellness
Remmi Smith, who has a show called Cook Tiime With Remmi, inspires children all over the country to live in wellness. Remmi’s Italian salad dressing is sold at Whole Foods Market and other specialty stores. She has also authored a cookbook, Global Cooking for Kids, which features healthy recipes from around the world. Remmi is the Student Ambassador for Sodexo, who serves her recipes in over 4,000 schools across the country. Remmi has partnered with national non-profit No Kid Hungry2 to help feed children in need.
Clean Water Initiative
18 year-old Myla Swallow of Australia has designed a system that can sterilize stainless steel baby bottles using a billy can and a simple pump-filter to produce steam. She has founded the Clean Water Initiative to raise awareness and address the issue of unsanitary water and utensils used to feed babies.
> Read Article and See Myla's Video
> Visit Clean Water Initiative Website
Young and Old Collaborate Against Nepal Child Slavery
Ten-year-old Vivienne Harr is working with 79-year-old Olga Murray to end child slavery in Nepal. Vivienne launched her campaign nearly two years ago in response to tragic images she’d seen depicting children in slavery.
> See Forbes Article by Devin Thorpe of Forbes Magazine (@devindthorpe)
Helping Indian Women Support Their Families
At 17 years old, Avani Singh of New Delhi, India has started a company which teaches women how to drive electric-powered tricycles to help them support their families.
Socks for Alzheimer's Patients
15-year-old Eagle Scout Eagle Scout Kenneth Shinozuka has invented a device that could revolutionize care for the more than 5 million Americans living with Alzheimer’s. The New York City teen’s grandfather is living with the disease, and Kenneth noticed his grandpa would often wander out of bed at night, sometimes injuring himself. This inspired Kenneth to invent a small sensor an Alzheimer’s patient wears on his or her foot.
Clean Water & Power
Around the world, many of the 783 million people who don't have clean drinking water also don't have access to electricity. A new design from a 17-year-old Australian high school student, Cynthia Sin Nga Lam, aims to solve both problems at once: While the device purifies wastewater, it uses pollutants in the water to boost power production in a separate compartment.
Speaking for Elephants
18-year-old Juliette West is a long-time advocate for elephant rights, founder of JulietteSpeaks, and star of the 2012 documentary How I Became an Elephant.
Teens Turning Green
Carly Wertheim from Teens Turning Green talks to Ernie Anastos about the group's efforts to make an impact.
Ending Child Slave Labor
Ten-year-old Vivienne Harr is working with 79-year-old Olga Murray to end child slavery in Nepal. She launched her campaign nearly two years ago in response to tragic images she’d seen depicting children in slavery.
> Click on The Image for the Video
Cultural Connections
Kate Avino of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey started her own online magazine so that women around the world would have a place to read about and share experiences, lifestyles, traditions, languages, and customs.The magazine, Her Culture, has featured prominent women such as Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and Congolese women’s-rights activist Neema Namadu. > Read Full Article and Go To Magazine Site
Cleaning Up The Ocean
Teen Boyan Slat from the Netherlands while still in the secondary school, decided to dedicate half a year of research to understanding plastic pollution and problems associated with cleaning it up. This eventually led to a passive clean-up system and project called The Ocean Cleanup. > Read Article and See Video
Planting Seeds
Claire Reid of Johannesburg, South Africa has made her contribution to a green and sustainable environment with her "Gardening Reel" invention she conceived of when she was 16.
Replacing Plastic With Paper
Andrew Mupuya is the founder of Uganda's first registered paper bag company. Youth Entrepreneurial Link Investments (YELI) is supplying restaurants, supermarkets and medical centers in Kampala.