Wouldn’t you love to tell your friends that you received a $25,000 grant from Pepsi? Well that’s exactly what Jonny Cohen, age 17 is able to do.
At only the age of 12, Jonny Cohen invented GreenShields, a curved wing that would attached atop school buses to decrease drag and increase fuel efficiency. As an entrepreneur, Jonny pitched his idea of GreenShields, and over the course of a few years, he has now received thousands of dollars in grants, along with a big $25,000 grant that Pepsi gave him to perform more testing, design, and construction of GreenShields.
Although GreenShields is not yet in production, Jonny is already estimating that he will sell the GreenShields to schools for $100 a unit. Schools would then save at least $600 from all the fuel savings.
Jonny really wants to learn more about business and has been taking advanced courses in high school for calculus, economics, physics, and engineering design. He’s thinking he might major in either mechanical or financial engineering but still hasn’t decided yet. Read more of Jonny’s story at the Chicago Tribune.
If you’re a teen with an idea for an invention, but you’re not sure how to get started with your business, you should check out my series of books, Micro Business for Teens. I show you how to write a business plan, setup your tax ids, setup any required business licenses, how to record business expenses for tax time, and more.
Carol Topp, CPA
