How Generation Z Is Altering the Face of Entrepreneurship for Good

Generation Z-ers are approaching business differently and the results have been thrilling.

Image credit: SrdjanPav | Getty Images

Chidike Samuelson

Entrepreneur Leadership Network Contributor

Entrepreneur, Lawyer, Author and Freelance writer

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November 24, 2020 7 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

For the longest time, my generation, the Millenials, were touted as the Entrepreneurial
generation. For the most part, we have lived up to the billing. However, as the world evolves, the
art of business evolves with it, and it turns out that Generation Z has more to do with this
evolution than many care to admit. 
Generation Z entrepreneurs are springing forth at such a startling rate that a recent Gallup
Student Poll found that 40 percent of students surveyed from grades five to 12 stated they wanted
to run their own business. Then, 24 percent said they have already started. At this rate, it isn’t at
all challenging to see Generation Z take over as the most Entrepreneurial Generation. 

What I find interesting as I observe this generation is that they are distancing themselves from
the generation before them in the way they innovate and do business. There are some interesting
differences between the way this generation is carrying on and the traditional entrepreneurial
pattern. 

An early start

Generation Z is drawn to starting businesses at an early age, born into the entrepreneurial
message's boom. Many of their parents (Millenials) are also Entrepreneurs, and this has
encouraged a shocking amount of kid entrepreneurs to take flight. 

Seeing kid CEOs is becoming somewhat normal. Examples abound like Moziah Bridges, who
started Moziah’s Bows at age nine years old and quickly grew his business to earning
$150,000/year. Moziah has employed several employees, gone on Shark Tank, and has been
featured in several popular magazines. There are many more examples than this article can
cover. 

Related: 10 Ways to Become a Millionaire in Your 20s

Traditionally, the bulk of Millennial entrepreneurs started in college, after college, or a few in
high school, but the trend is skewing more towards a younger age-group. The advantages of
starting this early are pretty obvious; investors and sponsors are more willing to sponsor young
people’s businesses than older ones. 

The story of Trey Brown, the 14-year-old founder of  SPERGO, a boutique fashion collection
receiving a $25K from Sean Diddy Combs, made the rounds recently, and that’s just one of the
many. Generation Z isn’t just starting early; it is reaping the full benefits of starting early. 

Community mentorship

As far as we know, mentorship has been one and will remain one of the significant pillars of
successful entrepreneurship. This fact has not changed with Generation Z, but they are certainly
not getting their mentorship in the regular ways we got ours. 

Communities within social media have become the go-to for Generation Z entrepreneurs to get
their counsel and mentorship. Mutual interest communities have always existed, but  Generation
Z has taken it a notch up. 

A large portion of generation Z entrepreneurs is self-taught utilizing Google, YouTube, and other
platforms. Still, a significant chunk relies on Mutual-interest communities to sample ideas, get
guidance, and make business decisions. 
‘Streetwear Startup’ is one of those communities that has gained notoriety for the closeness of its
community and how many successful streetwear startups it has helped push out, a simple Reddit
page, with rave reviews. 

Jaffry Jan Mallari is the young CEO of RSG RESURGENCE and one of such success stories
from Streetwear Startup. In his own words, “Reddit is one of the main sources of Resurgence’s
success, the community helped skyrocket my visibility attracting fans such as Dustin Wang, who
has gone on to become a repeat customer.”

Related: Meet 16 Teen Founders Who Are Building Big Businesses -- and Making Big
Money

Jaffry Jan went from Initial Highschool failure to business failure, then massive success. He
claims that, like many others in his generation, leveraging community mentorship is one reason
he has bounced back and is well on his way to building a six-figure business. The name,
Resurgence, has a poetic ring to it, all things considered. 

The benefits of these communities to this generation are that they can swap ideas and seek more
experienced members’ opinions. They have elevated collaboration over competition, a key that
seems to be propelling them towards immense success beyond Millennials. 

Kings of disruption

If it isn’t different, it isn’t cool; this seems to be the mantra for generation Z entrepreneurs.
Everyone seems to be trying to reinvent the wheel or to disrupt whatever industry they are
entering significantly. 

They have taken the idea of disruption way deeper than we anticipated. Caroline and Isabel
Bercaw, co-founders of Da Bomb bath, took the bath bomb industry by surprise when they
launched their strange bath bomb product that included a small toy within. They were just 11 and
12 years old at the time (2012), and they have gone on to grow this business to a massive self-
funded business generating over $20 million annually. 

Disruption is in this generation’s DNA, and we can expect a greater deluge of creative ideas and
businesses in this decade. 

Identity entrepreneurship

Identity politics has been condemned repeatedly in some quarters as being evil and divisive, but
Generation Z has found a way to apply the concept to business to significant effect. 

Identity entrepreneurship refers to branding your business and business idea around a theme like
race, religion, or location. This has always existed but has been brought to the fore by this new
generation. 

New Generation Z businesses are continuing to brand themselves as Young Black Entrepreneurs
(YBE’s) or Young Latino Entrepreneurs. Due to the powerful impact of social media and the
internet and their adept abilities at navigating it, Generation Z has managed to gain more
powerful results from this Identity Entrepreneurship than generations before. 

The effect is clear: it causes an influx of traffic from people who identify with the same
affiliations. If done well, it’s quite genius! 

Expansion minded

In the last 5- 10 years, while we have seen many businesses started by members of Generation Z,
we have not seen many new platforms created. It does seem to me that these young entrepreneurs
are comfortable utilizing the platforms created by Millenials and earlier generations in the early
internet age and building massive and expansive businesses.

Platforms Facebook, Youtube, Google, Amazon, Instagram, and the likes have taken over the
internet. They are not getting any serious competition from Generation Z’ers for apparent
reasons. Still, these brilliant entrepreneurs have built some staggering businesses wholly on these
platforms, and some have even built such expansive businesses that link throughout a number of
these platforms.

Related: Meet 12 Young Founders Who Are Disrupting the Way Business Is Done

Entrepreneurs like the 9-year old Ryan Kaji of Ryan’s World, a youtube channel that reportedly
makes about 22 million Annually from youtube, is a great example. 

On the other hand is Cheri Wang, CEO of Coshipper, who has successfully built one of the most
expansive and successful Amazon FBA businesses in the United States that offer comprehensive
services across air, land, and sea.  Wang believes that these platforms are the future of
entrepreneurship though he admits that it doesn’t make entrepreneurship easier nowadays as
there are still massive obstacles. 

This generation’s ability to build something massive on these platforms is a deviation from many
Millenial Entrepreneurs who still focus rather unproductively on trying to develop new
platforms.  

This fantastic generation is doing a great deal of good and competing in some complicated
industries, and we would love to see even more. It’s always refreshing to watch evolution
happen, and all we can do is follow the trends when necessary.