We're pleased to introduce you to Houston's first-ever Inno Under 25 honorees.
These young entrepreneurs — all 25 and younger — are making waves in the Houston community. In this first edition of the Houston Inno Under 25 feature, we're showcasing some of the region's most promising young innovators. In choosing this year's honorees, Houston Inno made a call for nominations. Once received, the editorial team selected those that showed innovation, achievement and originality.
From meeting a need during the pandemic to addressing an underserved market, these young business makers are certainly ones to watch.
Aditya Agrawal
Title and company: Web developer, SpeeDelivery
During the outbreak of Covid-19 in the spring of 2020, Aditya Agrawal and his peers recognized that friends and grandparents were struggling to get provisions and groceries during lockdown. So they decided to create SpeeDelivery, a grocery delivery service designed to help the elderly and immunocompromised. Agrawal and the SpeeDelivery team spent 75 hours developing the website, and the firm has gone one to assist dozens of community members with grocery deliveries. He has also worked on Flood Alert, a crowd-sourcing technology platform letting users identify flooded streets.
How have you overcome the challenges of being a young entrepreneur? The biggest challenges I have faced as a young entrepreneur have been building my credibility and finding the appropriate resources to help me execute my ideas. I often run into the issue where I don’t have the right expertise to tactically solve the problem I want to address, whether it be prototyping or financial modeling.
As I developed Flood Alert, I realized that it was necessary to find a mentor who had relevant technical skills and could guide me on how to approach the problem strategically. On the other hand, I have found that building credibility is something that takes time and effort. For example, I have put in multiple hours of work to create pitch decks to gain the buy-in from various stakeholders. All in all, you must learn from your mistakes to become effective at building a startup as a young entrepreneur.
Audrey Ajakaye
Title and company: CEO, LoveMySkin
Growing up, Audrey Ajakaye said she often felt singled out by her darker skin, different hair and her African ancestry. As she navigated racial and societal pressures as a child, Ajakaye's mother would write comforting, positive notes to give her confidence. Those little notes of confidence helped inspire Ajakaye to create LoveMySkin, a platform promoting skin positivity and wellbeing. The LoveMySkin app screens for dozens of different types of skin diseases and offers other features like chat groups, e-commerce and "telederm" services to benefit users.
How have you overcome the challenges of being a young entrepreneur? As a young entrepreneur, I realized early on that the road to success is never easy and is not always smooth sailing. I learned from my parents that challenges breed opportunities and how I handle complex challenges significantly impacts the ultimate result. While building the LoveMySkinTM app, I tackled every challenge with bravery, dedication, and humility. Also, the life of a young entrepreneur can be exciting and lonely at times. While juggling schoolwork and working on a startup company can be daunting and taxing on one's social life — a big challenge in itself. I have learned to take breaks, to be "present" and to enjoy precious moments with friends and family.
Tyla-Simone Crayton
Title and company: CEO, Sienna Sauce
Tyla-Simone Crayton is the creator and chief executive behind Sienna Sauce, the Houston-based sauce brand as seen on hit TV show Shark Tank — where she nabbed a $100,000 investment from Kendra Scott. Along with her mother and Sienna Sauce president and COO Monique Crayton, Tyla-Simone's sauce business has grown to sell in big-name grocery stores like H-E-B and Wegman's.
How have you overcome the challenges of being a young entrepreneur? There are everyday challenges to overcome as a young entrepreneur. The biggest help has been finding ways to manage my time wisely as a student and business owner. That is why prioritizing is important. Having a great team and a wonderful support system has also helped my business, most importantly my partner, Monique Crayton.
Rohan Dharia and Videet Mehta
Title and company: Co-founders and co-executive directors of Project Succeed
Rohan Dharia and Videet Mehta's shared interest in STEM led them to form Project Succeed, a student-run organization out of Fort Bend ISD. Project Succeed focuses on teaching students about coding, robotics, game development and other computer science fields at affordable price points. With the money raised through offering courses, Project Succeed purchases STEM kits for disadvantaged children in hospitals.
How have you overcome the challenges of being a young entrepreneur? We have overcome these challenges by maintaining professionalism and working with diligence to account for the age gap between other entrepreneurs and us. As high school freshmen, when we began Project Succeed, there was certainly a significant degree of skepticism because of our youth from adults such as school principals and hospital staff, with whom positive relationships were key for our success. However, by maintaining a serious, professional attitude, we were able to communicate our legitimacy in wanting to make a difference.
Another issue was a lack of experience and general access to resources. But by researching and informing ourselves sufficiently to gain knowledge about starting a nonprofit and managing an organization, we were able to successfully overcome these barriers. Nonetheless, in every step of the process, we are discovering more ways to handle new challenges in areas such as class design, advertising, and administration.
Akshaj Jois
Title and company: Founder and CEO, Jois Food Technologies
At 19 years old, Akshaj Jois is already a serial technologist and startup founder with experience in medical devices, 3D printing tech and cryptocurrency. In 10th grade, he built a medical device startup focused on wound healing and burn care called AloeAid. Jois went on to build Dropless Dropaids, a precision eye drop medical device tech firm. His senior year, Jois founded Jois Food Technologies, which is developing a manufacturing technology for 3D bioprinting of sustainable food ingredients. He's currently fundraising through a social cryptocurrency token offering in order to finance his next venture.
How have you overcome the challenges of being a young entrepreneur? The trick to overcoming challenges — which is largely the tsunami of no's you will receive — is to constantly be occupied with significant tasks that boost your knowledge (reading) and your network (attending tech events & be recruiting/making friends), and build momentum in your company (launching [a minimum viable product] to get as much advice/perspectives so you know which way to build your product and fundraise).
Benjamin Kang
Title and company: President, Cambium Consultants Inc.
A Houston native, Ben Kang is co-founder and president of Cambium Consultants, a company using technology to simplify the process of identifying subject matter experts for complex matters. Cambium's search engine uses text summaries, patent numbers and other criteria in order to find the right subject matter experts. Kang graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University, where he double majored in Applied Economics and Management as well as Biometry and Statistics.
How have you overcome the challenges of being a young entrepreneur? I owe a lot to my business partner, Janelle. She’s been in the expert witness industry for a while, and she taught me the ropes. She’s great at everything I am not, and we keep each other in check. There’s an implicit bias against younger entrepreneurs in well-established industries, but Janelle’s been in and around our space long enough for the both of us.
Jose Mateo Ludena
Title and company: Co-founder and product and innovation manager, Ryde.Safe LLC; founder, Forza Olympica
Inspired during an entrepreneurship class at the University of St. Thomas, Jose Mateo Ludena and his colleagues founded Ryde.Safe, a mobile application to track and train drivers to make roads safer. Ryde.Safe's software provides data collection and live tracking, and the firm can adjust safety tracking for vehicles and fleets of all sizes. Ludena aims to continue his passion for product development, combining his scientific background with technology to make innovative products.
How have you overcome challenges of being a young entrepreneur? Overcoming challenges has required patience and persistence. We always have a saying within our team, "It's a numbers game," meaning we will hear "no" or get rejected most of the time. But in the long run, we will be accepted and successful. We make our own luck and prepare to make the most out of every opportunity. Sometimes, overcoming a challenge is as simple as showing up and being at the place at the right time.
Madison Nicole Robinson
Title and company: Founder, FishFlops
Fashion industry entrepreneur Madison Nicole Robinson started footwear brand FishFlops when she was 12 years old. In 2015, she was recognized one of the Houston Business Journal's 40 Under 40. Now at 23, Robinson graduated from Texas A&M University Mays Business School, and she aims to make FishFlops a global products and entertainment company to inspire kids around the world.
How have you overcome the challenges of being a young entrepreneur? The keys to my success have been preparation, determination and authenticity. As a young entrepreneur, I had to gain business acumen to make sound decisions. My network of mentors helped me acquire this knowledge by providing support and honest and direct feedback. Understanding that growing a business requires taking steps toward a goal while learning from my mistakes and successes helped me overcome the challenges with entrepreneurship.
Sohi Patel
Title and company: President, The DICE Initiative
Sohi Sanjay Patel, a student at The Woodlands College Park High School, developed a proposal for a plant-derived, flame-retardant polyurethane foam that could be used for housing insulation and more. Patel's project proposal earned her the Patrick H. Hurd Sustainability Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Patel is also president of the DICE Initiative, a program aimed at supporting entrepreneurship for students at The Woodlands College Park High School.
How have you overcome the challenges of being a young entrepreneur? In directing the DICE Initiative, a high school entrepreneurship club focused on community outreach and real-world involvement, organizing partnerships for various nonprofits, and locating resources for my business pursuits, I have met many challenges surrounding my age. However, by polishing my communication and organization skills, being upfront about my actions and intentions, and making the most out of every minute, I have been able to overcome these obstacles and demonstrate an ethic others are willing to invest in.
Ashley Turnage
Title and company: Co-founder, PiezoPace
Ashley Turnage is a co-founder of PiezoPace, a firm that produces patent-pending sub-femoral piezoelectric transducer sleeves for motorized prosthetics. The prosthetic sleeve, invented by Turnage and PiezoPace co-founder Anirudh Srinivasan, is self-charing powered by piezo electricity. Turnage also co-authored the paper "Muscle Movement and Generated Mechanical Stress."
How have you overcome the challenges of being a young entrepreneur? My biggest challenge in being a young entrepreneur is that it is difficult to be taken seriously in an industry with professionals who have spent years training and learning the discipline. As the co-founder of PiezoPace, I was able to obtain patent-pending status and publish a research paper for our prosthetic device: a sub-femoral piezoelectric transducer sleeve for motorized prosthetics through resources like the Conrad Challenge and the MIT Challenge. Both of these accomplishments have given our technology credibility and have helped us overcome this challenge.
These profiles have been edited for length and clarity.
