At the 2019 YEA! Investor Panel held on March 27th Toly Chinn, CEO of Colorado Bike Armor (COBA) was named the 2019 Grand Junction Area Chamber’s Saunders’s Scholar. Toly and his family will be attending the Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) Semi-Final Competition in Rochester, NY the first week of May to compete for up to $30,000 of scholarship funding. This year, friends, families and communities across the country will be able to tune-in to the riveting experience via a live stream of the Semi-Finals and Finals LIVE pitch!
Toly attends Redlands Middle School, where he is a part of Student Senate. Along with being a young entrepreneur, Toly enjoys skiing, playing lacrosse, mountain biking and participating in Mesa County 4-H. His product is a protective wrap made of durable padded nylon for bike frames. Toly’s product can be used on mountain bikes, road bikes, commuter bikes and BMX bikes!
In addition to being named a Saunders’s Scholar, Toly was awarded $1,000 of start-up funding from an Investor Panel composed of sponsors of the YEA! program locally.
Other individuals that pitched their startup companies and received funding from the Investor Panel included:
Lillian Bittle, 12th grader (Home School) Lilly’s Truffles
Samuel Grover, 11th grader (Central High School) Food Classics
Tyler Hill, 6th grader (Redlands Middle School) Book Worms!
John Miller, 7th grader (Caprock Academy) Night-Time Comforts
Kellen Pifer, 12th grader (Fruita Monument High School) Battle of the Boxes
Reigan Sander, 8th grader (Redlands Middle School) Xanthi Games
Kael Sievers, 8th grader (West Middle School) DFault Disconnect
Jordan Smith, 8th grader (Redlands Middle School) MyCharger
Zoie Whitesides, 6th grader (Redlands Middle School) Oops Bakery: The Cookie Bar
After receiving start-up funding at the Investor Panel, all ten YEA! students unveiled their businesses to the public for the first time at the YEA! Trade Show at the Mesa Mall. The Trade Show was the culmination of 30 weeks of hard work, resulting in the graduate owning and operating their own business. YEA! students enjoyed the unique experience of interacting with customers and making their first sale!
Make sure to tune in and cheer on Toly as he goes toe to toe with over 70 students’ businesses from across the country.
Saunders Livestream – Visit: https://saunders.rit.edu/yea-live
Click here to download the full version of the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce May 2019 Newsletter.