Yoichiro Mikami's startup's mission is to raise funds for the implementation of university projects
Yoichiro Mikami wanted to become the next Masayoshi Son, the richest man in Japan. To achieve this, he followed the example of the demonic investor and dropped out of school at 16.
He is currently devoting his heart and soul to his startup, Gnex Ltd. His company is raising capital from small investments and has the support of six sponsors, including Yahoo Japan and the recruitment company Recruit Holdings. Mikami's startup is dedicated to raising funds for university projects, and provides an app that provides information about university entrance exams, as well as a social network for students to share information about their study programs.
"Masayoshi Son continues to invest in various projects," Mikami said in an interview. "His investments have paid dividends for his company, his employees, and society. I want to be that kind of entrepreneur.".
Son is the CEO of SoftBank and chairman of Yahoo Japan, owns 34% of Alibaba and is worth around $17 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He dropped out of school at 16 to attend an English-language school in California, and shortly thereafter laid the foundation for the empire he eventually built in the Internet space.
But Mikami also has a second idol: Nick D'Aloisio, who became a millionaire at the age of 17 when Yahoo bought the app he created for reading news on his mobile phone, called Summly, in 2013.
“Teenagers have stopped following adult advice,” says Mika Kumahira, a lecturer at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo. “We will see more such teenage entrepreneurs in the future,” she adds.
He founded Gnex in March 2013 from his bedroom. Mikami's company currently has 13 high school and college students from all over Japan who help him identify opportunities. Mikami connects with his partners, who are aged 15 to 20, via Skype and through them he discovers student or college projects that are looking for funding and support.
His goal is to find 100 sponsors by March 2015, to raise up to 20 million yen (or $185,370) to expand his business.
Websites that use the "crowdfunding" method for their financing (seeking funds from many and small investors) in 2013 raised $5.1 billion internationally, compared to $2.7 billion in 2012. These companies help businesses that are too small to attract banks or venture capitalists to find financing for specific projects from a large number of individual investors.
Essentially, what they do is serve the “common good.” One of Mikami’s first investments was BridgeCamp, which provides funds, staff, and workspaces to students who want to carry out a project.
Source: protothema.gr
