At the beginning of his junior year, William Adeniyi, now a senior, took a big chance starting a sign business.
Adeniyi’s business includes creating signs for various celebrations, including graduations, birthdays, and school events. A year later, he has created over 50 banners, each taking around five hours.
“Since then, my business has grown even more, opening up many doors for me to meet new people,” Adeniyi said.
As his business began to flourish, he expanded his operations to pin-making for Kinkaid’s varsity sports teams this October.
Adeniyi is the sole proprietor and manager of his business, and he independently sources his supplies, such as paints and paper, from Amazon. For guidance and framework, he uses social media platforms.
“My inspiration comes from a multitude of places, such as Pinterest, TikTok and Instagram,” Adeniyi said.
However, his business does have its challenges as he has to balance his academic endeavors with his entrepreneurship.
“Part of balancing this lifestyle is learning to say no, as school is my priority,” Adeniyi said.
Adeniyi’s sign business has even been utilized by members of the Kinkaid community.
“I crafted a sign for Kinkaid’s varsity recognition ceremony, a sign for the Senior Commons, and I made pins for the football games,” Adeniyi said. “If anybody out there has a business idea, and they have doubts, just go for it. You never know how strongly your community might support you, or how far it will go.”
Senior Beyli Shah started her business, Brush and Brand, in January 2024. Her business began in an Interim Term class focused on finding a side hustle, where each student had to make their own business, create a website and a logo.
Her business originally was more focused on gift tags and calligraphy, but she shifted to banners after finding success.
“After my mom asked me to make my brother’s graduation banner, banners have gained the most attention and profit,” Shah said. “Initially, I spent six hours per banner, but I have since become more efficient, now taking only an hour to two hours.”
Shah’s banner business has reached new heights, with a substantial increase in orders.
“My biggest order was writing 320 names for a University of Texas sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta, for their bid day kites,” Shah said.
She was also asked to create signs for the Houston Art Gallery.
“Word of mouth has been the most effective advertising method, helping to secure new orders and maintain a steady client base,” Shah said.
Another entrepreneur is Owen Kallop, a junior, who is in the process of launching an app called Grubzi.
“The app based on college student feedback that helps college students cook cheap, healthy meals quickly,” Kallop said.“The idea came while taking an entrepreneurship course at Columbia, where we saw how many students rely on takeout or instant noodles and wanted to create a real solution. “
Kallop said he aims to positively impact college students by making healthy meals more accessible.
“Our goal for this app is to be the go-to food app for students everywhere and expand with more features,” Kallop said.
Owen and his partner, Bobby Salame, are working on getting the app in the app store soon, believing that once it is live they will begin to profit.
“The app is going to be an ad-based profit system because we learned when interviewing real college students that they didn’t want to pay a subscription,” Kallop said.
These young entrepreneurs set an example for the Kinkaid community because of their initiative, drive, and courage to put themselves out there.
