Entrepreneurial space helps Valdosta High School senior boost her brand

Kayla Calloway battled skin issues throughout middle school, leaving her insecure about her appearance and frustrated by the money she spent on so-called cures.

As a teenager, she began making her own soaps with ingredients such as turmeric and oatmeal. Soon, she was selling her KB Skin Soap to friends and family. As her circle of customers grew, so did her confidence.

More recently, Calloway’s hard work paid dividends when she was named the winner of the 2024 Georgia Foundational Leadership & Entrepreneur X-periece (FLEX) competition. The winner receives $10,000 to help expand their business, as well as exposure to mentors, new markets, and assistance in receiving a “Georgia Grown” certification.

In developing her business idea, Calloway received assistance from a new lab at Wiregrass Technical College created to help local entrepreneurs. The Innovation Incubator was launched with funding from Georgia Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing, or Georgia AIM, which is working with technical colleges across the state to increase access to AI and smart technologies.

At Wiregrass Technical College’s Innovation Incubator, students can sign up for one-on-one meetings with the lab’s director, Michael Fleming, and draft a plan of action for their business. The space was designed with K-12 entrepreneurs in mind and features laser engravers, 3-D printers, heat presses, and a tabletop CNC milling machine.

“We help them plan their next steps using the resources within the incubator,” said Fleming, educational outreach program manager for Wiregrass Technical College. “Students then learn about ethics when working with AI, and using ChatGPT, we walk them through a consulting session on ideas to expand their business.”

A Foundation for entrepreneurs

FLEX began in Fitzgerald, Georgia, as the community was emerging from COVID in 2021. Locals wanted a program benefitting high school students that gave them hope for the future.

As a result, the FLEX program challenges students to conceive a business idea and then act on it. FLEX provides a framework and coaching to help the teens turn ideas into verified, profitable businesses.

“The goal of FLEX is to create prosperity and revitalize rural entrepreneurial ecosystems through the education of students on the rewards, sacrifices, and processes incurred in the establishment of small business,” said Melissa Dark, executive director of Georgia FLEX. The initiative grew from the Fitzgerald Ben Hill Chamber of Commerce and has expanded to nine other communities in just a few years. “Not only does FLEX have direct community benefits like enhancing workforce development, increased entrepreneurship, and advertising opportunities, but FLEX also has indirect community benefits that we feel are just as important.”

Winners are chosen through several rounds of competition, culminating in a Shark Tank-style event to crown a champion.

Last year, support from several partners allowed FLEX to scale up to include nine new communities. Key partners in the competition are Georgia Grown, Georgia AIM, the Partnership for Inclusive Innovation, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, Wiregrass Technical College, and Southern Regional Technical College. Georgia AIM and the Partnership for Inclusive Innovation are programs administered through the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Enterprise Innovation Institute.

A successful start

As Calloway began her FLEX journey in the fall of 2023, she tapped into resources at Wiregrass Technical College’s Innovation Incubator to assist her designs. “I was able to create branding and marketing materials for my new company as well as understand some of the concepts of AI using the generative AI feature in the Glow Forge,” she said. “This experience has been fun and I’m looking forward to continuing my business.”

As she developed her packaging and logo, Calloway looked to a main influence in her business: Her mother.

Calloway’s mother was diagnosed with Lupus in 2000 and struggled with skin issues that affected her self-esteem, said Calloway. Her mother died in 2019, but her influence in her daughter’s business is strong. Her mother loved sunflowers, placing them throughout the house. Today, Calloway shares this love of sunflowers and brought them into the design of her packaging.

Calloway’s branding, understanding of her customers, knowledge of the market and her capacity for expanding were enough to convince the judges at the FLEX state finals. In the end, she returned to Valdosta with a check for $10,000 and an expanded network of business associates.

For more information on the Innovation Incubator at Wiregrass Technical College, email Michael Fleming at Michael.fleming@wiregrass.edu.