A Portfolio of Young Business Owners

Meet six students who have already taken the entrepreneurial leap.

1 | 2 NEXT

Laima Tazmin

Age 17, LAVT, New York City

When we first wrote about Laima Tazmin in 2004, as part of an article titled "25 Entrepreneurs We Love," she was a high school freshman with her own website design company, LAVT, in New York City. Today, as Tazmin is finishing her last semester, her business continues to expand. Now it manages 20 ongoing projects, including designing banner ads starting at $1,000 each, for clients such as the producers of the movie Saw II and of Kanye West's second album, Late Registration.

The company earned $25,000 in 2006, and Tazmin put that money toward paying family expenses while her mother struggled to find work. "It was overwhelming, but I managed," says Tazmin. "The independence and maturity I learned helped my adult clients feel calm and comfortable."

Tazmin hasn't found it easy to make the transition from solo businessperson to manager. Lacking time for supervision and coaching, she has burned through 10 freelance designers. The problem is that, in addition to her company, she maintains a roster of high school activities. She's a shooting guard on the basketball team ("I like scoring points--I'm not a passer," she says) and works on the yearbook staff ("I get a little too control-ly," she admits). Tazmin, who will attend Columbia University in the fall, is also working, predictably enough, on starting a second business. It will create Web portals for college towns.

Derin Coleman and Rayneshia Rodgers

Both age 17, Bling Buckles, Oakland, California

Derin Coleman and Rayneshia Rodgers have been friends since the seventh grade and business partners since 2004. Together, they run Bling Buckles, an Oakland, California, company that sells custom chrome belt buckles with white rhinestone lettering for $25 apiece. Bling grossed $2,075 during the last academic year, selling belts primarily at events sponsored by BUILD, a program in the Bay Area created to teach high school students in low-income school districts about entrepreneurship.

"They work great together," says Curtis Below, an executive at GetActive Software, who serves as the company's mentor. "Rayneshia is the more outgoing of the two, chatting up customers and constantly throwing out ideas. Derin is mature and does whatever needs to be done with a smile on his face."

The partners, who are juniors at a charter school called Lionel Wilson College Preparatory Academy, were tested during their first holiday season in business, when Bling faced a big backlog of orders. "Derin and I were making buckles over Christmas vacation and on our lunch hours," says Rodgers.

Just as the company is taking off, however, its future is in doubt. Rodgers and Coleman are applying to colleges far apart. In fact, in addition to launching and running a company, BUILD helps students prepare for the college board exams. Eight out of every 10 BUILD graduates have been the first members of their families to go to college.

Not that the passion for entrepreneurship is lost in the shuffle: "I like school, but running a business feels more real," says Coleman. "Oh, I can learn how to make a million dollars? Okay, I'm listening."

1 | 2 NEXT

Try a RISK-FREE Issue of Inc. Today!

Renew | Contact Us | Current Issue

Select Services