Mayfield Heights Teen Presents Business to Investors in Shaker

A young Mayfield Heights resident can impress investors during a presentation Friday, but his future plans are much larger.

"We think this product will launch, and launch big," incoming University School sophomore Felix Benenson said of he and his partners' invention, the Spark Kit school kit.

The first step is the LightHouse Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program's Demo Day today at Shaker LaunchHouse. There, Felix and friends will be one of several groups presenting the business plan and product they have been working on for six months with LightHouse Ohio, a business incubator for students.

The Spark Kit is designed to provide students with many of the back-to-school items they need in one package. It contains five binders, five folders, 400 sheets of paper, pencils, erasers, pens and a composition notebook.

"It's all top-notch quality, like Five-Star and Avery," Felix said.

The groups were provided $600 in startup money as part of the program.

Should Felix's group reach success with its kit, the members want to expand to more customization and applications, like kits for camping and long flights.

"We've come a long way in six weeks," he said. "We want to make (supply shopping) easy and have as much quality as we can give.

"We hope, one day, it'll get real big and people all over America can get this and customize it."