Youth Startup Seeks to Create Online School for Natural Hair Care Demonstrations

Gabrielle Goodwin, 13, of Columbia, SC, is one of this year's competitors in the i.Invest National Youth Business Competition. She is the founder of The Confidence Look and Learn Hair School, an online girls’ hair styling tutorial subscription service.

We spoke with Gabrielle to learn more about her business venture:

Tell us about your business venture:

The Confidence Look and Learn Hair School will be an online girl’s hairstyling tutorial subscription service. It will be a biweekly, two-way video interactive live stream offering the full hair care and styling experience for subscribers with our resident stylist and natural hair specialist. One week before the scheduled styling demonstration, a photo will be sent to subscribers of a hairstyle along with a list of products and tools that are used. The styles that are chosen can be modified for the particular hair length and styling experience of our members. Hair care topics like detangling and deep conditioning will also be included in our tutorial demonstrations. A GoPro camera will be worn to give great close-ups during the experience, while questions will be moderated and answered every 20 minutes so families can truly look and learn. Our recordings will be available for replays forever to our subscribers.

Who or what inspired you to start Confidence?

We already have had a Facebook group for our girls' natural hair care and Confidence brand, where we answer different questions about hair care, and now we want to expand. Occasionally, we have even used Facebook Live to do real-time hair demonstrations. In doing so, we have seen that many moms have questions about various hair care topics, so we decided to create a school to help them while promoting our plant-based natural hair products for girls.

How will Confidence impact the world?

The Confidence Look and Learn Hair School will help girls feel confident in their natural hair, while part of the proceeds will go to our GaBBY Play Dates, where we invite girls from children's shelters to teach them about entrepreneurship and have fun with them. We have fun by going to places like spas, splash pads, and bouncy houses. Ultimately, Confidence will solve the problem of moms not feeling confident in taking care of and styling their daughters' natural hair. Most moms had chemically processed hair growing up, and now 73% of black women wear their hair naturally. As moms are embracing their natural hair, they are looking for products and services to help their daughters do the same.

To learn more about the Confidence Look and Learn Hair School, visit their website, http://gabbybows.com, or Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/therealgabbybows/. To mentor or offer support, email info@i-investcompetition.com.

Young Business Leader Develops Affordable Tool to Remove Common Mud Dauber Nests

Clayton Rasche, 18, of Baton Rouge, LA, is one of this year's competitors in the i.Invest National Youth Business Competition. Clayton is the founder of The Dobber Digger, a tool that removes dirt dauber nests, a form of wasp common throughout the United States that build their nests out of the mud, causing a major problem for homeowners.

We spoke with Clayton to learn more about the business venture:

Tell us about your startup:

I have been in the exterior cleaning industry for five years. This experience presented a common issue with hard-to-remove dirt dauber nests. The Dobber Digger will be established as a Limited Liability Company with the expectation of rapid expansion in the exterior cleaning product industry. This simple, yet exciting new tool will create a fast, affordable, and simple way to remove pesky dirt dauber nests in a 3-step method: scrape, scrub, rinse.

Who or what inspired you to start Dobber Digger?

I have worked in the exterior cleaning industry with my dad's small company for five years. We've always needed a tool that can remove nests with ease. So, I researched to see what kind of tools existed for removing dauber nests, and I was surprised to find nothing of the sort. That is when I came up with the idea to invent the Dobber Digger, a tool that removes dirt dauber nests.

How will Dobber Digger impact the world?

The Dobber Digger creates a safe, fast, and affordable way to remove dirt dauber nests from your home! We, personally, conducted a survey of 100 Louisiana residents, and 97% agreed that there needs to be a tool for the removal of dauber nests. I love the south, and Louisiana at heart. I was born here and love my community. I want people to be proud of the look of their homes and not have to spend a lot of money to do so.

What are the next steps?

We are seeking funding to start the company. Our funding will go towards marketing and manufacturing costs, along with additional promotional items, such as t-shirts and a website.

To learn more about the Dobber Digger, visit their website, http://dobberdigger.com. To mentor or offer support, email info@i-investcompetition.com.

Texas Students Form Network of Investment Clubs Geared to Teach Financial Skills to High Schoolers

Shivam Siddaiya, 16, along with his team members, John Rho, 17, Grant Stapleton, 17, and Rishi Niranjan, 17, all of Plano, Texas, are one of this year's competitors in the i.Invest National Youth Business Competition. The team members are the cofounders of CASH Club Corp., a student-founded network of investment clubs built for high school students to improve their financial literacy.

We spoke with the cofounders to learn more about the business venture:

Tell us about your business/product:

CASH Club is an ever-expanding network of investment clubs across high-schools all over the world designed to provide students with opportunities to develop their financial knowledge. Currently, we have established nearly 30 branches across the world including two in India and one in Dubai. Our proprietary curriculum is specifically catered towards high school students and has been tried and tested for two years. CASH Club consists of two primary components: in-classroom learning and extracurricular competition. We host bi-weekly school club meetings, presenting our curriculum to educate fellow students about the stock market, which can then be used to advance performance in our branch-wide stock market game. We host two games per school year during the Fall and Spring semesters, each of which offers a cash prize to the top participants.

What inspired you to start CASH Club Corp.?

CASH Club was founded as a high school investment club in 2018 at Shepton High School. Our first year saw over a hundred members and a dozen meetings, culminating in an ultimate investment competition championship. Above all, we focused on delivering a quality curriculum in addition to an active application of investment principles. The very next summer, we soon expanded across the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, and by the end of the year, we even opened a branch in New Jersey and India. Since then, our emphasis has been on spreading our mission across the nation, spreading financial knowledge and professional opportunities wherever we go.

How will CASH Club Corp. impact the world?

The stock market is an excellent tool to harness a secure financial future, which, in turn, can lead to greater opportunities in life. Sadly, according to Princeton research: 75% of millennials report that they don't invest because they don't know enough about the markets. This lack of investment is not due to a lack of interest, but rather due to a lack of exposure and opportunity. Around the world, high schools suffer from a lack of finance-based programs to teach students the fundamentals of investment. CASH Club Corp. aims to fix this problem by enabling students to start stock-investment clubs at their schools, providing them with a bite-sized curriculum covering the basics of the stock market, and empowering them to apply their knowledge through engaging stock simulation competitions on a mobile app.

What are the next steps?

The company is seeking funding to be put towards fulfilling our fundamental purpose of educating the next generation of investors. Funds will help cover the operational costs of developing a new curriculum, hosting weekly club meetings across multiple schools, and expanding our organization. Since CASH Club aims to create investment clubs at every high school in the world, funds will also be critical in powering various channels of marketing, including social media, mail, flyers, and news platforms.

To learn more about CASH Club Corp., visit their website, https://www.cashclubcorp.info/, or their Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/cashclub.corp. To mentor or offer support, email info@i-investcompetition.com.