Josh Farazhad and Hugh Ferguson, co-founders of the nonprofit company mission:toothbrush -dedicated to providing oral health supplies to those in need- talk about the learning curve, the obstacles (high school!), and the tremendous advantages of being young entrepreneurs.


Currently a senior at Ward Melville High School, Josh plans to study business and economics in college. At school, Josh plays on the school’s varsity golf team, while also serving as co-president of DECA. Outside of school, Josh loves learning about entrepreneurship. Working on mission: toothbrush has taught him how incredibly rewarding social entrepreneurship is. He has also developed a social networking app, Reef, and works as a freelancer, specializing in website data scrapping and analysis, to fund his projects and ideas.

Hugh is currently a senior at Ward Melville High School in East Setauket, New York. Hugh is a captain on the school’s varsity hockey team and Vice-President of the school’s DECA chapter. Always brainstorming business ideas and projects, Hugh is currently working on a productivity app, 5er, set to release in winter 2016. In his free time, he works as a freelance editor and writer, plays guitar and bass in jazz bands, and manages his own stock portfolio.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx