Dare To Startup

David Denis grew up in a small village in Tanzania, where he was given a small piece of land to farm and discovered a passion for agriculture. After qualifying for a full scholarship to attend school, he studied chemistry, physics and biology. His education paired with his curiosity led him to start Cutoff Recycle, a company that reuses human hair to produce fertilizers, pesticides and concrete. Although his family and community viewed the use of human hair as a form of witchcraft, David persisted and found success, placing second in the 2021 GSEA Global Finals. David speaks about the importance of taking advantage of opportunities, giving back to your community and inspiring younger people to make the most of their abundance of tomorrows.

Observing his parents navigate through financial hardships in a poor Malaysian community allowed Shy Kit Wong to discover the importance of hard work, grit and passion to survive and succeed. As an engineering student and a social entrepreneur, Shy Kit started his entrepreneurial journey with Luminary, a company to help supply clean water and electricity to marginalized communities in Malaysia. In 2020, Shy Kit became a GSEA Global Finalist after pitching Luminary. Once the Covid-19 Pandemic started, Shy Kit shifted away from Luminary and refocused his social impact to Serum, a company he started to create hygiene kits for people who did not have access. Throughout his entrepreneurial career, Shy Kit experienced pivotal moments when he reevaluated his internal and external situations, found the middle ground between “for-profit” and “for-impact” endeavors and increased opportunities for more social impacts. Shy Kit discusses tapping into your own interests, overcoming fears and choosing the motivating mindset.

Born and raised in a small farm town in Nepal, 2019 GSEA Global Finalist Santosh Pandey was always involved in non-profit organizations to boost his social skills and get more involved. He soon realized he had little creative outlets with these organizations, and he was ready to make real change. When he thought about the one in six Nepalese citizens leaving the country in search of better opportunities, Santosh considered the emotional gap Nepalese families face. In order to bridge this gap sustainably, Santosh started Offering Happiness, a gifting and surprise planning business. Santosh discusses reaching rock bottom with his company, rebuilding and being more open to learning. He speaks about finding resources in GSEA and his unique experience of being one of five GSEA competitors featured on the Disney+ documentary “Own the Room.”

Growing up in a small town in Kenya, 2019 GSEA Global Finalist and Roometo Co-Founder Henry Onyango imagined a straightforward life for himself—go to school, get a good job, get married, etc. But in high school, Henry had a “serendipity moment” and started a technology consulting company with his classmate, the start of his entrepreneurial career. Henry doesn't consider himself an entrepreneur, rather someone who loves problem-solving when he sees an opportunity. He shares his thoughts and experiences about creating a joke-telling chat bot, navigating team dynamics and finding peace with letting go of ideas. Finally, Henry discusses his view of money as a tool to create positive impacts on peoples' lives and how implementing a universal basic income can lead to solving poverty.

Camilo Salinas learned to code by playing Minecraft and sparked his interest in pursuing computer science. These skills led him to build his company, Residia, a community management platform for residential complexes. Camilo speaks about the highs and lows of being an entrepreneur, family support and a unique take on imposter syndrome. Website: https://residia.co Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/residiaoficial Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/residiaoficial/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/residia Twitter: https://twitter.com/residiaoficial

The day after Berat Kjamili, Co-Founder of Migport, found himself on the brink of giving up his entrepreneurial dreams, he received a phone call that spurred him on to continue his efforts in assisting the refugee population in Turkey. He has since gone on to impact 20 million people through his work bridging refugee and local populations and offering immigration solutions to governments around the world. Berat shares about how his personal story led him into social entrepreneurship and the value of vulnerability as a business owner. Website - http://www.migport.com/ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/beratkjamili/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/migrationport Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/migrationport/

Setting out to “strategically lose” her first business competition, Daniela Blanco of Sunthetics has since been listed in Forbes 30 Under 30, MIT's Top Innovators Under 35 in Latin America and was featured in the National Geographic documentary Own the Room on Disney+. Daniela discusses the importance of listening to feedback and shares her perspective on the unique gift that entrepreneurs enjoy by being able to shape their company according to their personal vision and values. Website: https://sunthetics.io/pages/team Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sunthetics_nyc/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sunthetics/

Katarina Samardzija, a former GSEA US National Finalist and CEO of Locker Lifestyle, a certified 100 percent women-owned company, shares her story of rebuilding after a devastating fire, serving on the FedEx Entrepreneur Advisory Board, balancing multiple roles as a business owner and the importance of persistence. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kat-samardzija-5bb73a141/ https://lockerlifestyle.com/ https://www.facebook.com/lockerlifestyle/ https://twitter.com/lockerlifestyle https://www.instagram.com/lockerlifestyle/

Starting out by selling moss door-to-door at five years old, serial entrepreneur Daniel Dubois, a former GSEA and Accelerator-participant-turned-EO member, shares his story of raising US$1 million at the age of 21 and his experience working for Airbnb. He is currently striving to make homeownership accessible to everyone through his newest venture, Key Living. https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielmdubois/ https://keyliving.com/daniel/ https://www.facebook.com/LifeatKey/ https://twitter.com/LIfeAtKey https://www.instagram.com/keylivingcanada/

In the first episode of Dare to Startup, Tyler Olson speaks with 2020 GSEA Global Champion, Harvinder Power, a “doctorpreneur” who combined his passions for engineering, medicine and entrepreneurship to improve physiotherapy through his company, Motics. Harvinder talks about the importance of a long-term vision when making critical decisions, the value of mentorship as an entrepreneur, and encourages early-stage entrepreneurs to fight to make their dreams a reality. https://www.linkedin.com/in/harvinder-power-70800b124/ https://www.motics.co.uk/ https://www.facebook.com/moticshealth https://twitter.com/moticshealth https://www.instagram.com/moticshealth/