The Global Health & Fitness Startup Ecosystem saw a big boost with 2022 coming to a close. These Young Entrepreneurs in their prime years, risked it and made a conscious choice to create something valuable to improve lives and create a new future.
It was difficult to stand out from the crowd and stay current in the constantly evolving technology industry. Nonetheless, these five young entrepreneurs showed that they were born to do great things.
Ventora Medical
Founded By: Amy Yu
Age: 24
Founded In: 2019
Located In: Melbourne
Industry: Healthcare & Science
Amy Yu and Co-Founder Buijs came up with Ventora Medical in 2018. The idea was to provide better support for premature infants.
They believe that the key to securing the future of healthcare is medical innovation.
“We conducted clinical observations and interviews at several (NICUs) across Melbourne where this clinical need became apparent,” ~ Amy Yu, CTO Ventora
The way Ventora has grown as an award-winning medical device company and is on a mission to help millions of premature babies breathe is truly commendable.
Fitness Trainer
Name: Risako Tanabe
Age: 24
Located in: Japan
Industry: Fitness and Training
Risako Tanabe is a fitness trainer who teaches people how to exercise & eat healthy to make positive changes in their lives.
She has 230k followers on Instagram and is building up her YouTube channel, with fitness-related videos.
Risako also entered the Terrace House back in May 2019 as the youngest of all three female contestants.
My life is made of me. Recently, I’ve felt the importance of having an environment where you can do what you like, having people around, and having a body that can move, and having time ~ Risako Tanabe
You can get a full action hero perspective of her doing top-notch sports like parkour, backflips, leaps, and jumps while viewing her social media accounts.
Kona
Founded By: Corine Tan
Age: 22
Founded In: 2019
Located In: Los Angeles, California, United States
Industry: Health & Wellness
Kona is moving forwards with a mission to strengthen remote leadership with greater empathy and understanding.
Co-founded by Corine, Kona is the burnout platform for teams creating connections without impacting their way of functioning.
“A lot of what we’re trying to do at Kona is we’re starting with these wellbeing check-ins, but really making the habits that people-first leaders have access to everybody,” ~ Corine Tan
Kona aspires to preserve more than 81% of Gen Z workers who left their employment due to mental health problems while building a happier, healthier workplace for the future.
Afghan Girls Robotics Team (Afghan Dreamers)
Founded By: Somaya Faruqi
Age: 20
Founded In: 2017
Located In: Afghanistan
Industry: Health
This all-female robotics team made headlines after they created a low-cost, portable ventilator to help treat COVID-19 patients in Afghanistan. They created a prototype ventilator using spare parts from old cars.
“The idea evolved out of the dire need for ventilators to save lives of people during the COVID-19 pandemic,” ~ Somaya Faruqi
“Afghan Dreamers” was documented in post-production. The fact that they overcame stereotypes and realised their full potential made their achievement truly remarkable.
PeakPals
Founded By: Raghav Budhraja
Age: 24
Founded In: 2020
Located In: India, Noida
Industry: Health & Fitness
One of the craziest GenZ stories, Raghav started PeakPals to give online 1-1 personal training, diet plan & hand-holding guidance. They’ve transformed 132 people, and with 10K members, it’s the biggest GenZ Fitness Community on Linkedin.
All changed when I realised life’s about being all in at – Peak, and being with the right people – Pals. So be peakpals. ~ Raghav Budhraja
The majority of youth today are physically inactive which results in low confidence. Peak Pals’ guidance and future – app will help them look & feel better and perform at their peak, everyday.
Despite the difficult COVID times in the world, when things came to a halt and the pace dropped, these Startups emerged as a source of inspiration and hope for many. Health and Fitness are the keys to a longer life, and in some terms, we can say that these young people have saved many lives in certain ways. These young people will undoubtedly act as role models to other Gen Zers, and you never know where the next rush of potential startups will come from.
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