Darrius Quarles, 27

From: Philadelphia Businesses: Million Dollar Scholar and BREAUX Capital

Derrius is an author and serial entrepreneur who started his first social enterprise, Million Dollar Scholar in 2013 at the age of 19. Million Dollar Scholar has since helped over 46,000 low-income students access more than $8 million in scholarships for higher education, as well as training for the college application process. Derrius went on to found BREAUX Capital, which increases the financial health of black male millennials and their families via a combination of savings automation, peer engagement and collective investing. Derrius and his co-founding team of two have served hundreds of initial customers, going from an initial investment of just $500 to nearly $20,000 in revenue in 2017. Derrius has also been an Entrepreneur in Residence at TED and just graduated with a master’s degree in education entrepreneurship from the University of Pennsylvania. Derrius says: “Even considering just how much struggle and sacrifice is involved in pursuing entrepreneurship, it still represents the biggest opportunity anyone has to be free pursuing . . . creativity, innovation, and the creation of value for people. For entrepreneurs of color, this is especially significant because of the numerous social issues that have yet to be solved in our communities. Entrepreneurs have the greatest potential to impact many of these issues. For me, that is what makes entrepreneurship needed more than ever.”