When it comes to entrepreneurship, some of the most influential names have come from people who were just working on interesting side projects, or people who simply saw an opportunity and took it. While there are plenty of strong entrepreneurs to look up to in today’s world, we’re keeping our eyes open for those making waves in 2022 and beyond. Here are ten of the top entrepreneurs who will be rocking the world in 2022
Akira Jakeh Robinson
From designing outfits to be laid out for the week with his mother during elementary school, to embarrassing his friends with his experimentation on high school and college, Akira knows how important what we wear is to how we are perceived. As a Harvard-trained strategist, he is now combining skills learned by launching products as a consultant with his penchant for fashion to launch AKI THE LABEL. The brand, launched in August 2022, is built for everyday casual luxury, and will be the world’s first travelling brand. Armed with the conviction that we are all more alike than we are different, AKI THE LABEL will travel from city to city for each collection, not only highlighting those cities with ensignia on the garments, but also using its models, its cityscape, its creatives, and its philanthropists to tell the story of those places and the people who live there.
Roshan Shivalkar
Roshan Shivalkar, the founder of Puranpoli and a thriving 30-year-old entrepreneur in the restaurant industry, has been winning hearts with his Indian restaurant in the Bay Area. Known for his ceaseless love for achieving entrepreneurial goals, Roshan loves to delve into his work, even if it means giving up on regular social life and relationships. Passionate about his culture and cuisine, Roshan and his sister have been enjoying it by sharing it with others too. Roshan’s restaurant is known for its authentic Indian fusions and a culturally opulent atmosphere and takes great pride in providing its guests with an enjoyable dining experience.
Driven by his ambition to bring the best of Indian cuisine to the Bay Area, he’s always found innovating and expanded his menu to include new and exciting dishes. His commitment to excellence has earned him a loyal following of customers who keep coming back for more. Roshan’s goal is to continue growing his business and eventually open additional restaurants while always looking for new opportunities to grow his business.
Allera Dawn
Allera Dawn is shaking up industries & perceptions. Known as The Modern Day High Priestess, founder of Pure Light 1111 & creator of her ground-breaking Soul Architect Series ™ healing technology. She is creating waves as a spiritual life & business advisor, workplace wellness expert, multi-dimensional energy healer & podcast host. She is a visionary & change maker who is using her experience to bridge between many industries going through huge evolution, including Finance, Business & Wellness. Her unique edge is that she has first-hand experience working within them.
Allera brings an advantage to the conscious ceo’s, entrepreneurs & leaders she works with. Through inner alchemy, she can help them collapse the quantum timeline to create the highest outcome. Clients experience healing & transformation in days that would normally take years of therapy. Total life upgrade. She is internationally renowned for transformational group masterminds & life changing private 121 containers.
Corey D. Samuels
Corey Samuels is the founder & lead instructor for his company Samz BREGO, LLC. Samz BREGO, LLC focuses on teaching children & adults how to build with LEGO and learn STEM terminology, creating team-building LEGO programs for corporate functions. Corey has always been a LEGO© enthusiast since the age of 5. For years, his passion for creative expression and teaching others how to express themselves creatively has led Corey to be an up-and-coming Master Class instructor.
Corey is a graduate of Montclair State University in Montclair, NJ with degrees in Business & Fine Arts. Corey’s love for LEGO inspired him in creating a wearable LEGO Brooch with outfits, later branding it BREGO (Brooch + LEGO). Corey shifted his focus from fashion to education by becoming a LEGO STEM teacher for various school systems in the Tri-State Area. Corey has been featured alongside his brother Travis Samuels on the hit TV Show Season 1 of LEGO Masters on FOX and the Christmas special Buddy vs Christmas on FOOD NETWORK.
Jon Sexton
Jon Sexton is an award-winning entrepreneur. As President/CEO of NASHVILLE HOME | Benchmark Realty, Jon was named Top Agent in Davidson County, Nashville Metro, and Williamson County for Customer Satisfaction, and ranks #4 overall in Tennessee. He is recognized as Best Real Estate Agent in Williamson County, and his team NASHVILLE HOME named Best Real Estate Team. Jon, who is also a partner in a real estate investment firm, has more than doubled his sales volume every year since 2017. Jon is also Co-Founder of BOOST FitClub, an 85,000-square-foot performance/wellness center is Nashville’s only one-stop destination for all things fitness, wellness and health. BOOST has been awarded Best Health Club 10 years in a row, Best Place to Work 3 times and Best Gymnastics 9 years. Jon attributes his successes to life balance and keeping family first. Jon has emerged as a standout leader in Nashville’s thriving business community.
Antonio Spano
Husband/wife duo Antonio Spano & Stacey Spano are pioneering a new way to eat Popcorn and are taking the industry by storm with their company Poppin’ & Mixin’. Using skills learned from Antonio’s MBA in Entrepreneurship and Business Intelligence career working for multiple Fortune 100 companies, combined with Stacey’s operational expertise, in 2017, they spearheaded a popcorn startup and created a unique brand and concept they knew was needed to differentiate their company in the popcorn industry. Their concept allows guests to make their own popcorn creations using a variety of 75 flavors and mix-ins like candies, nuts, and other snacks. Think Popcorn Trail Mixes! As a natural-born hustler and visionary, Antonio built their first popping kettles in their garage and got the business foundation built by creating a brand, culture, and story. Stacey’s extensive know-how of logistics and operations helped them immediately start selling directly to consumers out of a tent in Metro Detroit. Their brand and concept gained quick traction and brand loyalty, and within 4 years, They were able to introduce a Food Truck and a Brick & Mortar to their arsenal. Today, their company has been featured on many news outlets, a TV series on Amazon Prime, and Antonio also represented Poppin’ & Mixin’ in a competition for entrepreneurs on a Reality TV show called “The Blox” directed by one of MTV’s most prevalent reality stars, Wes Bergmann. They are in current plans to wholesale their products on a national level, working with an “As Seen on Shark Tank” company called Mr. Checkout. They are also looking to Franchise. The Spano’s continue to impress with their abilities to grow and scale their company in such a short period of time, all while Antonio maintains a regular 9-5 career as a Director of Business Intelligence. Antonio & Stacey are also proud parents to 2 wonderful little girls, Isabella (7) and Lilyana (5).
Sharon Yeap
Sharon is the founder of Trade Tales, a company pioneering the world’s networking marketplace which facilitates 1st° multi-lateral relationships and trade. The platform brings together diverse human capital, ideas, projects, services, tools and education based goods to create economic and social value. After a mentorship in the UK to learn about creating financial freedom through real estate, she saw that, while education is an important first step, there is a big gap between knowledge and success.
And this gap is the amount of work, time, energy, capital or resources it takes to achieve a great dream or vision. This is why many struggle to make it. But what if there is a short cut? By leveraging the convenience of a global trade network for discovery, growth, monetisation and implementation of ideas, goals, or projects in life, work or business, together it is possible to bridge the gap between dreams and reality.
Jennifer Gilchrest
Jennifer Gilchrest is the founder of Platinum RE-CO, a rapidly expanding real estate brokerage, Team Lead of Gilchrest Platinum Producers Luxury Team, &GPP Development, a real estate development company based in Newcastle, Oklahoma. Life Coach, Mother, GIGI, Friend, Influencer, & Leader; Jennifer applies the same philosophy to everyone she comes in contact with, ensuring you feel valued & accepted.
Her approach to work & life is simple: YOU come first. Jennifer does not measure success through achievements or awards but for the satisfaction of her clients, coworkers & and loved ones. Constant communication with every interaction & personalized care is at the forefront of her business. Through her fearless, bold, & courageous strength to dominate anything and everything she comes across, Jennifer has transformed her dreams into reality & hopes to do the same for everyone she meets.
Dr. Tania Simmons
Dr. Tania Simmons is a transformation executive business coach, CEO, and founder of Healing for the Nations. She has been helping families, communities, and developing nations o establish sustainable humanitarian initiatives such as water wells, education, and healthcare reform. With 27 years of experience knowledge in healthcare, executive coaching, and strategic business development, Dr. Simmons has risen from her highs and lows of life and successfully helped many individuals achieve transformation in business, health, and the area of wealth development.
Hailing from unpleasant life experiences herself, she is driven by empathy, understanding, and candor. Extending her life lesson forward, she strives to create maximum impact for success in her client’s life, city, and nation. With her coaching, she truly enjoys inspiring passion, true hope in people while helping them reach their ultimate destination and true freedom. Through her unique methodologies, she helps individuals rise to their true purpose in no time. She was recently awarded the ‘International Nelson Mandela humanitarian Medal 2021’ by Professor. Amb AbdullGhanu Yahya Al-Ebarh, the leader of World Peace.
She also thrives as an international keynote speaker in executive leadership, strategic business collaborations, and global medical infrastructure in London, Dubai, India, Pakistan, South Africa, and many other nations. She has received diverse appointments on many international advisory boards as an international director and has been awarded many awards for her global accomplishments.
Danilo Alvarez
Danilo Alvarez is the cofounder of Alerta! Creative, a groundbreaking ad agency that bridges the gap between the highly-conceptual Mad Men-type advertising firms that build powerful brands and the nimble digital shops that draw on technology to achieve aggressive marketing goals. Formed in some of New York’s most renowned communication corporations, Danilo and his partners, Jimmy Duran and Johann Gamez specialized in developing high-end advertising for multicultural audiences. With shifting demographic trends, the importance of reaching more diverse targets exploded across the board. Alerta! jumped ahead of the curve of massive changes in the marketing landscape and built a culture of results-driven innovation, now even building the first ad agency in the Metaverse. In less than 2 years, Alerta! has racked up clients in diverse industries: from alcohol to virtual education; of all sizes: from startups to worldwide brands; and with multiple penetrations: local, domestic and multinational.
Final Thoughts
Entrepreneurship has evolved over the past few decades and taken on an entirely new meaning in the business community. Entrepreneurship isn’t just about starting your own company—it’s about breaking ground and inspiring others to do the same. It’s about shaking up the status quo and questioning the way we do things, all in an effort to bring about positive change.
