These 2 Teen Entrepreneurs Show You’re Never Too Young To Change The World Around You

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Move aside Mark Cuban, Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Mark Zuckerberg, there is new breed of entrepreneurs taking your space!

When we think of the world’s biggest business names and most famous entrepreneurs, we unfortunately always think of the aforementioned male names and can hardly conjure up equally as famous women. But things are slowly changing, and if the younger generation is any indication of what the future of our economy holds, we are in for some major changes.

Two stories from two different areas of the country have been making headlines, and for good reason. The first is New York teen Noa Mintz. She is 15, and had created a business worth over $300,000. That is not even an exaggerated number! If anything, it is rounded down.

Her business idea? Something a lot of teens may be familiar with: babysitting. She decided to create a business that recruited engaged babysitters, rather than pay-by-the-hour girls who just want their cash at the end of the night. She started charging families a lot more money, saying they were going to get caregivers who actually cared for their kids, and it seemed to work.

Nannies by Noa was started just 3 years ago when Noa was only twelve and today her business has made an estimated $375,000. She was inspired to create the business after realizing there was no one doing what she did in the Tri-State area, and today she services 190 clients, and has a roster of 25 full-time nannies and 50 babysitters. It’s a first-of-its-kind comprehensive childcare agency.

And it’s not just other teen girls working for her, she has adult women leaving other agencies to come and work for Noa.

“Noa interviewed me on the phone. I had no idea she was a kid. I was intimidated — she’s so well-spoken,” says Dahlia Weinstein, 37, a 10-year nanny veteran placed by Mintz.

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Noa doesn’t make enough of a salary from her employees, despite taking 15% commission of all gross earnings from the nanny’s full time earnings and a flat $5 fee from her babysitters. But the company is now big enough that she had to hire a full-time CEO to cope with the demand, Allison Johnson, 26, a licensed social worker who had initially applied to be a nanny.

“It was a little bit of a challenge at first,” Johnson admits of taking orders from a kid — and negotiating her salary with one. She was 14! [But] I’m a feminist, and I really support women who do things for themselves and get their visions out there,” she said.

Noa’s dad works at a private equity firm and helped her file the LLC to make it a legit company. Noa’s mom, a former journalist told the New York Post says her daughter is a natural entrepreneur and isn’t surprised by this achievement.

“There are kids whose lives are absorbed by tennis or acting — but this is her baby, her startup. It’s not a hobby for her. This isn’t a lemonade stand.”

The significance of the business she has created is not lost on Noa, who says she initially wasn’t taken very seriously because she was in middle school when the company was founded.

“It’s crazy to look back and see that I gave people jobs. It’s amazing to see what I’m capable of,” she says. And her advice to those who believe age is a deterrent to achieving something as world-class as this?

“I always say, ‘Don’t let my age get in the way.’ ” Here is a local news story on this incredible teen mogul:

The second mogul changing the way we look at entrepreneurs is San Jose 15 year-old Sonali Reenawara. What was initially a cash gift from her parents turned into an idea that now benefits under-privileged kids around the world.

Back in 2011 when she was only 11 (it seems age 11 and 12 is the prime year to formulate entrepreneurial ideas in girls – corporations and business incubators take note!) Sonali’s parents gave her and her brother Mano $100 as a gift with the directive that they had to “do something good” with it.

Unlike regular pre-teens who would prefer to go to the mall and spend money on themselves or their own interests, Sonali found a way to majorly impact the life of a child across the world. She found out about an international non-profit called SmileTrain which raises money for kids who need major dental surgeries in poverty-stricken areas. The cost if a surgery to fix a cleft palette for a kid is $250 USD.

Sonali immediately wanted to use her money for this cause, but realized her $100 wasn’t enough. Inspired by a class at school where she and her classmates were learning about recycling, and recalling the money that her parents would get when turning in used recyclables, Sonali connected the dots and found a way to raise the extra $150 she needed.

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She donated her $250 to SmileTrain, and urged her friends and family to do the same. But it didn’t stop there for the brilliant teen. She decided to start her own non-profit called Recycling4Smiles where she regularly recruits her friends, family and community members to collect recyclables.

To date her non-profit has raised $34,000 for various organizations that enable young children around the world to get the dental surgeries they need. A quick glance at all the photos on her Facebook page where she has shared many photos sent to her of the kids getting surgery are a powerful visual of how much our efforts can make a difference in the lives of others.

“I think, wow. It makes me happy to think what a difference we have made in their life,” she told NBC News.

Both these girls stories are great reminders that to make a difference in our world around us, you don’t have to have a lot of money, power, resources or opportunities. You can use what you have and create something amazing. Perhaps when our government is looking to lower the unemployment rates around the US, they could learn a thing or two from youth like Noa Mintz who are often overlooked when it comes to official statistics.

And in terms of solving major world crisis that organizations like UNESCO and The Gates Foundation are often trying to do, they could benefit greatly from hearing from the younger generation who are learning to create solutions from limited resources.

Here is Sonali’s story below:

 

 

 

 

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