Brandywine student receives funding for small business through Invent Penn State

Khalid Jordan, a third-year business major at Penn State Brandywine, was one of eight Penn State students across the commonwealth to receive funding for his small business at the 2023 Invent Penn State Venture & IP Conference in Hershey on Oct. 16.

Each student’s small business was selected based on its successful participation in the Invent Penn State Summer Founders Program, Inc.U Competition or LaunchBox and Innovation Network programming.

Jordan’s small business, YozoraTs, is an anime T-shirt company that makes anime merchandise that is subtle and made for the everyday consumer.

“I’m a big fan of anime and video games; they’re a passion of mine,” Jordan said. “I see a lot of people wearing anime T-shirts, but some people don’t want to wear them because they don’t want to wear something super big and bright. I figured I should make T-shirts that are more subtle and don’t always scream anime.”

At the conference, Jordan was given 60 seconds to present his company to an audience of 400 people, including other Penn State students, faculty, staff and Commonwealth Campus chancellors.

“Getting to the conference was nerve-wracking at first because I was surrounded by people I’ve never seen before, and some of those people were very important,” Jordan noted about his experience. “Once I started talking to people and making connections, I got more comfortable and felt more confident while presenting my small business.”

Tony Mattei, director of entrepreneurship and digital marketing at Penn State Brandywine, aided Jordan in preparing for the conference. As leader of Brandywine LaunchBox, Mattei has been watching Jordan grow over the past year. He notes how proud he is of Jordan for the progress he’s made and the success he’s had with his business.

“It was great to see Khalid pitch his business on the big stage at the Invent Penn State Venture & IP Conference in front of a crowd of over 400 attendees,” said Mattei. “Khalid has participated in two of Brandywine LaunchBox’s Idea TestLab startup accelerator programs, and I’m proud of the progress and success he has achieved in his entrepreneurial business venture.”

The Penn State Brandywine LaunchBox, established in 2021, is a signature program of Invent Penn State, a commonwealth-wide initiative to spur economic development, job creation and student career success.