Frisco community embraces innovation with young entrepreneurs leading the way
Written by Winston Henvey | Star Local Media Reporter for Frisco Enterprise, August 23, 2024
The future of innovation is now in the city of Frisco.
Community members and business leaders heard that message loud and clear during the Frisco Chamber of Commerce Innovation Luncheon held Friday, Aug. 23 at the Westin Stonebriar.
The event afforded attendees the opportunity to learn about the advancements and future for innovation in Frisco — including the rise of young entrepreneurs which were featured during two panel discussions.
The first discussion, led by Ryan Gebhart, president of Baylor Scott and White Centennial, allowed Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney, Jeremiah Anderson, innovation director for the Frisco Economic Development Corporation, and Plug and Play Frisco Director David Steele to talk about the growth of new businesses and the establishment of Frisco as an emerging tech hub in the United States.
Anderson said Plug and Play’s Frisco office has provided a connectivity that Frisco seemed to be missing when looking to innovate.
Cheney added it is important for a city like Frisco to have a healthy ecosystem of innovative businesses when attracting future Fortune 500 corporations.
Between Aug. 11-15, Frisco hosted its second annual Dallas Startup Week, which saw record attendance, Anderson said. According to Steele, Dallas Startup Week is one of several tools that allows Frisco to showcase its growth opportunities, its current assets and its business ecosystem to present itself as the “spotlight of North Texas.”
When talking about innovation and emerging businesses, the Frisco Chamber of Commerce highlighted several young entrepreneurs as Frisco’s new faces of innovation.
A second panel, led by Frisco Chamber of Commerce CEO Christal Howard, spotlighted young entrepreneurs Diya Balagopal, CEO of NativeScapes, and twins Siddarth and Sowmya Nandyala, CEOs of STEM IT and DriveIt, respectively.
These three CEOs were products of the Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA), which fosters young minds to emerge as problem solvers and business leaders.
YEA Program Manager Peter Burns kicked off the panel discussion, stating that from day one, the students who are accepted into the academy are trained to be entrepreneurs and are taught to methodically plan every aspect of the business they intend to create.
“I don’t want us to think of kids as our future,” he said. “We like to think of them as the now.”
Burns told the audience that YEA will support these emerging business leaders as they give a soft investment pitch for their businesses, with the aim of teaching them to be unshakable when it’s time to participate in a national “Investor Panel” competition.
In a recent 2024 competition, Balagopal and Sowmya secured placement in the top two spots for the best investment pitches.
Balagopal spoke on how the experience of pitching her business to real investors opened her eyes to the impact that her business could have, if approved. She said that her company is working on a native grass sod that will help continue her efforts to create more sustainable landscaping, through less frequent watering and lower use of chemicals in North Texas by using grasses specifically adapted to Texas environments.
Sowmya talked about how her experience of going back to the drawing board multiple times for her business, Drive It – an application aimed to help drivers book DMV appointments faster – allowed her to realize that when she speaks with investors to launch her company, nobody is going to speak about her business better than she will.
Siddarth spoke on how his passion for coding and the guidance of YEA helped him launch STEM IT, an immersive learning experience in building, coding, and engineering. He has also made his mark in history as the youngest Oracle-certified AI programming executive, at age 13. He aims to continue growing his and other teens’ skillset in emerging technologies including AI.
Howard wrapped up the event by encouraging businesses to get involved in supporting young business leaders through YEA. More information is available at friscochamber.com/young-entrepreneurs.
