Ilana’s Entrepreneurship Blog

The Five Local Opportunities Title: Store owner accused of selling counterfeit NFL gear ahead of Super Bowl Link: https://www.local10.com/news/local/2020/01/30/store-owner-accused-of-selling-counterfeit-nfl-gear-ahead-of-super-bowl/ Description of story: A man named Tyrone Greene was arrested on Tuesday for selling counterfeit NFL merchandise at his store before the Super Bowl game. He sold counterfeit NFL jerseys, shirts, hats, and bags that had a retail value of about $ 11,125. Description of problem: Tyrone was selling counterfeit NFL products before the Super Bowl game. Selling counterfeit merchandise is considered an illegal act in the United States and contributes to lot revenue for the government. The people who were mainly affected in this case are the consumers of these counterfeit products. Who has the problem: The person who is now facing the consequences for his actions is Tyrone Greene but the ones who are truly affected are the consumers ...

Opportunity: An opportunity that exists is how difficult it is to find parking near or on UF’s campus. The places in which you can park are reserved for certain residents in apartment complexes and restaurants. In this case, the unmet need is the ample number of parking spaces where people can park without any restrictions or fear of being towed. The people who have the need are mainly college students and families of these students who drive cars near campus. This need has always existed and continues to be a major issue for people near the college campus. Currently, students have been parking on the limited side street parking spaces using the parking meters and they also try to park in the Standard parking garage even if they risk being towed. I know that if an individual does not live in the apartment complex, they are only allowed to park on the third floor and are technically not allowed to park overnight. People have to “illegally” park in places in order to fi...

My Entrepreneurship Story:   As an Innovation Academy student, I had the opportunity to put my entrepreneurial and innovative skills to the test during the Catalyst competition last summer. Catalyst is a summer showcase in which Innovation Academy students present and create original solutions to a current issue in society. In the summer of last year, the topic that my group was faced with was how could we help improve early childhood development in the state of Florida. In the beginning, we had to do an immense amount of research and determine what specific area within early childhood development would we target. Instead of going the more common route and creating a similar alternative to educational programs such as “Leap Frog” and “ABCmouse”, my group and I decided to build a specifically designed toilet prototype that promoted healthy toddler potty training habits.   The reasoning behind us creating such an odd and unique product was because we foun...