At just 16 years old, Blake Stanfill, a 11th-grade student at St. Augustine High School in New Orleans, Louisiana, is turning his passion for basketball into an innovative technology venture designed to bring young people together. As a recipient of the i.Invest Louisiana Young Entrepreneurs Grant, Stanfill is developing Check Ball, a youth connection app that uses basketball to create community, increase access to recreational opportunities, and get young people off the sidelines and onto...

ParTee founders, Emy Foster and Charlie Kehlenbach, standing with Jalin Carter, former program director for Tulane’s Young Entrepreneurs Academy. Some of the best businesses are born from personal experience. For Emy Foster and Charlie Kehlenbach, a challenge they faced as members of their high school golf team became the inspiration for ParTee—an innovative mobile entertainment business that earned them recognition as 2026 i.Invest Louisiana Young Entrepreneurs Grant recipients. Emy and...

Hayden Le and Grace Nguyen , 18-year-old co-founders of EcoAqua. Meet the 2025-26 i.Invest Louisiana Youth Entrepreneur Grant recipients , Hayden Le and Grace Nguyen , the 18-year-old co-founders of EcoAqua and seniors at Benjamin Franklin High School in New Orleans, Louisiana. As driven 12th-grade student entrepreneurs, Hayden and Grace are already making waves with an innovative, eco-conscious skincare solution designed specifically for athletes and outdoor enthusiasts. Their work was...