Indy teen wins check from 50 Cent, G-Unity Foundation for hair care line

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INDIANAPOLIS — You’ve heard of “Shark Tank,” but some Indianapolis students got their own chance to pitch their business ideas to some sharks of their own.

One of these sharks has got swag.

The panel included local business professionals and music icon 50 Cent.

One Speedway High School student stood out above the rest, earning a check from 50 Cent himself and a ticket to the regional competition.

Tumim Gevrewold is a senior at Speedway High School. For the last four years through the Innovate WithIn program at her school, she has been developing her business, Afrotopia.

“I think the biggest thing I have learned is, I don’t know how to say it, voice what you are passionate about, to work toward that passion. I think that is really important when you are facing a problem. Not to just sit there and deal with it but to face it head on,” said Gevrewold.

Afrotopia is her an all-natural hair care line that was developed specifically for curly and textured hair. 

“A lot of my family and friends, we always talk about our problems that we face with our hair products or problems we have with our hair and I think I have wanted to do this for a long time and Innovate WithIn gave me the opportunity to actually work with it,” said Gevrewold. 

Beyond the products, her business will include a website that has educational information on how to protect and care for hair. She has also developed a product that she calls a “cool cap” that protects hair from heat damage during showers.

“To see her grow and develop through this process has been absolutely amazing. She was a very shy and timid kid when she first came to me and was trying to figure out problems but was kind of all over the place. But as soon as she found this, she immediately ran with it and she knew exactly what she wanted to do,” said Sarah Ackerman, business and innovations teacher at Speedway High School.

Gevrewold beat out 30 other teams of students to earn $2,000 in seed funding from the G-Unity Foundation and the Pacers organization, mentorship and business coaching, and a ticket to the Innovate WithIn Regional Pitch Competition.

She plans to use the money to develop her website.

“It is pretty cool when you get to say, ‘I got a seed funding check from 50 Cent,’ or even some of the students that were there, ‘I got some really great business pointers,’” said Don Wettrick, CEO of StartEd Up Foundation.

Wettrick says one of his favorite moments from 50 Cent’s time with the student entrepreneurs was when a student asked him about work-life balance. 50 Cent explained he doesn’t have it–he worked hard in the beginning to get where he is now and doesn’t consider things like judging the Innovate WithIn pitch competition and talking to young entrepreneurs “hard work.”

“[He said] if you want to set up a life of success, it’s going to be a part of your life and I loved that because not only did he talk to the students in an authentic way, it wasn’t just, ‘Hey, kids,’ it wasn’t empty platitudes. It was real conversations,” said Wettrick.

Gevrewold says it was amazing getting to meet 50 Cent and hear him talk about his journey through entrepreneurship and ask him questions.

“I think what he said about if you value your own product or whatever it is you are offering then other people will see that too,” said Gevrewold.

Next she will compete in Region 3 finals hosted by IU Indianapolis on April 23 in hopes of moving on to the state finals where the winner gets $25,000 in seed funding and $10,000 in scholarship money.