Today we’d like to introduce you to Sam Vahhaji
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Since a young age, I have been fascinated by business.
In 10th grade, I had started this online slipper business called Cozy Step. Sooner than later, my business began gaining. a lot of traction. Many of my friends started asking me to help them run their own business but sooner than later I realized that it was becoming too impractical to help everyone out.
That is when I started doing some brainstorming and I founded Business for the Youth, a global, youth-led, 501(c)(3) nonprofit that engages the youth in business practices through acts of service aiding underrepresented communities.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The whole process of starting a nonprofit was something really new to me! I had always been an entrepreneur and I have had past business like a clothing brand (Juicy Threadz) which I was able to gain 100,000 followers at its peak and I also a personal TikTok with over 200,000 followers so i had have some past experience in social media and how to scale something up! We were able to gain 100 members through our high school and then more of my friends from other schools saw through social media and just through word-of-mouth the impact BFTY had, and they wanted a Business for the Youth at their school so I decided to scale the nonprofit though social media and reach out to ambitious students to apply for a chapter within their community and we have been able to open up 50 global chapters around the world from India, to Turkey, to Pakistan, Ethiopia, Nepal and more!
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I think something very special about BFTY is that it is super collaborative! I haven’t been able to do everything by myself, and I have had board members such as Shivani Patel (Vice President) and Madeline Gray (Chapter Coordinator) help me a lot through this process! Additionally our Southwest chapter has helped aid Afghan Refugee families and during the holiday season we received over 150 donations of toys to which we dropped off at their houses to make their holidays a bit brighter! Additionally, we raised over $2,000 through our Southwest chapter (and after taking out costs for raising the money) we were left with about $1300 to which we donated to Alight (a global non-profit aiding refugees) to help advance our charitable mission. We have had meetings such as Business 101 courses and let members sell raising canes and more getting them involved in business practices, learning how to make money!
I would also like for you guys to know that any high school student is capable of starting a chapter they just have to apply through our website (businessfortheyouth.org)
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Growing up I was super ambitious, I always wanted to prove the impossible. I was inspired by my Mother (who is an entpeuenr) and how she was able to make her dreams into a reality! I started slime business, candy business, snow cone business and more trying to make my imagination into a reality.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://businessfortheyouth.org
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/businessfortheyouthglobal
