Last fall, Ganiyat Daranijo received a message from her aunt encouraging her to check out a new opportunity she had just heard about: the Future Founders Be Your Own Boss Virtual Internship.
Then a freshman at Walter Payton College Prep, the idea of learning about entrepreneurship (and getting paid to do so) was quite appealing to Ganiyat. She had spent years helping her entrepreneur mom run her boutique, Ismat Enterprises, in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. Selling a wide range of Nigerian clothing, shoes, jewelry, and specialty food items, Ismat Enterprises has been like a second home for Ganiyat. So the opportunity to learn more about how to run a successful business was like a dream come true.
Unfortunately, with a record number of applicants, the fall 2020 cycle of the Be Your Own Boss Internship was super competitive, and Ganiyat did not make it into the cohort. Undeterred by this setback, she continued to keep an eye on Future Founders opportunities, and when our Startup Spring Break: Marketing Challenge was announced, Ganiyat was one of the first to submit an entry.
Running from March 29 – April 2, the Future Founders Startup Spring Break: Marketing Challenge was our first 100% virtual, on-demand spring break program for Chicago High School students. Throughout the week, students from across the city chose a local business and helped them develop a creative marketing strategy to attract more customers.
Not surprisingly, Ganyat chose to submit a marketing strategy for her mom’s boutique. Judges were so impressed with her knowledge of the business that they named her First Runner Up, awarding her a brand new tablet computer.
Riding high on her entrepreneurship momentum, Ganiyat jumped at the chance to reapply to the Be Your Own Boss Virtual Internship this past spring. This time around, she firmly secured her spot in the cohort, joining dozens of other high school students from across Chicago. Over the course of two weeks, these students logged on virtually to learn the ins and outs of entrepreneurship, engage with members of the Chicago startup community, and apply the skills they learned to develop and pitch new business ideas to a panel of esteemed judges.
As soon as Ganiyat met with her team, it was clear that even though they all had a diverse range of interests and came from different backgrounds, every one of them was passionate about solving the environmental problems facing our planet. With this as their North Star, the team got to work on building their business. Ultimately, they decided to focus on the issue of microplastics – the microscopic pieces of plastic waste that chip off of our clothing in the washing machine, and eventually make it into our drinking water and food supply.
Branding their startup “Unintentional”, the team created a business framework that outlined the manufacture and sale of special washing machine filters that would remove microplastics before they made it into our water supply. To encourage quick adoption with consumers, Ganiyat’s team also created a blueprint for a rewards program that would incentivize the installation of their filters.
After two weeks refining their idea, Ganiyat and her team pitched Unintentional to our panel of judges. And while they ultimately did not win the pitch competition, they did receive rave reviews for attempting to tackle such an important issue. Which for Ganiyat, was a prize in and of itself.
Now a sophomore, Ganiyat looks back fondly on her time in the Future Founders Startup Spring Break Marketing Challenge and Be Your Own Boss Virtual Internship. Not only did she enjoy connecting with new peers from schools across Chicago, but she’s also been able to apply much of what she learned at her mom’s boutique, ensuring the business remains successful for years to come.
And while Ganiyat is not yet certain if a life of entrepreneurship lies ahead for her, she’s optimistic knowing that she now has the skills she needs to create her own opportunity and future, wherever it may take her.
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