Near Georgia Tech, budding student entrepreneurs brave the heat to talk to potential clients on a Wednesday afternoon. In Decatur, undergraduate and graduate students from Emory University are on campus building everything from medical device products to virtual reality startups. Off campus, students from Kennesaw State University are learning about building businesses that can grow into startups.
At the same time, thousands of miles away, a Spelman College student was in South America researching products for his own skin care line.
Summer is often a time when students take a break from studying to go home, sleep in and take on part-time jobs. But lately there’s been a concerted effort to not only support local student entrepreneurs, but also make it easier for them to stay in Atlanta and pursue their entrepreneurial goals. Part of that effort is through ACES (the Atlanta Collegiate Entrepreneurs Coalition), run by the Mayor’s Office, and a growing number of campus-run programs. So this summer, hundreds of students on Atlanta’s college campuses are taking a break from classes to launch or grow new startup ideas.
The university entrepreneurial scene
Georgia Tech’s Create-X has the largest concentration of student entrepreneurs in Atlanta: 137 startups and 320 entrepreneurs are participating in the Georgia Tech program this summer, says Associate Director Rahul Saxena, including 17 startups linked to Georgia Tech intellectual property or faculty.
College students are flocking to build artificial intelligence and generative AI startups, with nearly half of the startups in the Create-X cohort building AI-related platforms.
That includes companies like VigilAI, a body camera AI analytics startup founded by Georgia Tech student Pranavkrishna Suresh and University of Central Florida student Om Patel, who are coming off a strong summer after winning top prize at Summit ATL, hosted by Startup Exchange, last month.
Then there are Spelman College students Lauren Thompson and Mariah Ellington, who joined Create-X to grow the platform they first started working on through the Spelpreneur program. On Tuesdays this summer, Thompson and Ellington fill their days with mentoring sessions and meetings with the other Create-X founders to help keep the company on track to achieve its goals. The rest of the week, they’re busy with customer discovery and writing a business plan.
Thompson and Ellington both grew up outside of Georgia, so they told Hypepotamus the program also gives them an opportunity to see what Atlanta has to offer after they leave campus.
Campus Opportunities
But Georgia Tech’s campus isn’t the only place buzzing with entrepreneurs this summer. Kennesaw State University’s Hatchbridge Incubator is a hub for Cobb County students to get the mentorship and educational tools they need to start their companies. Fourteen Emory University students are participating in Emory’s Summer Accelerator, held at the Hatchery, an on-campus entrepreneurial hub. And later this summer, students will flock to Athens for the University of Georgia’s Summer Launch program.
Other Atlanta students are breaking away from the traditional campus environment through the newly launched Fusen Fellowship, an internship program run through the Venture Studio organization.
Escape from Atlanta
Many students stay in Atlanta and participate in startup support programs in the city, while others use their summers to seek startup inspiration abroad.
Latisha Jones launched her natural skincare line, Mo’Shea, at age 16 to combat the colorism she experienced as a girl. Now a student at Spelman College, Jones balances her studies, her cosmetics company, and her role as vice president of Spelman’s Entrepreneurs Club.
Jones spoke to Hypepotamus last week from Brazil, where she is studying abroad this summer.
She said she is using her trips and stays in Brazil not only to gain a deeper understanding of Brazilian culture, but also to “gain insight into the natural ingredients used abroad and learn about more natural treatments that can be used in body butters and other skin care products.”
