Young Indy entrepreneurs make a big splash

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — How’s this for a summertime trade: You get a breeze through your hair, water under your feet, and a smile on your face. In exchange, two young men from Indiana get some dollars in their pockets.

That’s the dream quickly becoming a reality for Golden Mashindi and Arnold Moto. Their journey is the focus of the Success Stories segment of this week’s edition of Business, Equity, and Opportunities.

Their tale starts as teenagers. The two say they lived near a lake and loved to be on boats and jet skis, but at their age, they were too young and did not have enough funds to regularly rent a boat from the nearby marina.

“We had a big body of water, with no way to explore it,” explained Moto.

Instead, they put their savings together to buy an aging Wave Runner to ride and enjoy. During that time, Mashindi says other friends would ask to use the watercraft for their pleasure, sparking the idea of renting it out.

“Old Reliable,” as he calls that first jet ski, became the foundation of a novel business model: customers book a time and lake online and Jet Ski Indy brings a watercraft to them.

Mashindi says they are cleared for delivery to boat ramps at Iakes overseen by Indiana’s Department of Natural Resources, including major reservoirs like Mississinewa, Salamonie, and Lake Monroe. Jet Ski Indy also recently reached an entrepreneurial goal of getting accreditation from the Better Business Bureau.

The watercraft delivery business is still small, and the young entrepreneurs are still learning: they’re currently college students studying for the very kind of future they are already creating for themselves away from the classroom.

“Still a lot of unknowns,” says Mashindi. “We’re only in our second year of business, and there’s still a lot to learn we need to hone in on.”

Sunday, they’ll share with us the story of their successes so far and dreams for the future, in hopes of helping others with big ideas.

Also in the upcoming episode:

• A local pitch competition in the style of “Shark Tank”. It offers real money to entrepreneurs with big dreams
• A veteran-owned business that runs toward problems that force others away
• Indianapolis moves toward a major makeover of its diversity and equity efforts

See it all and more Sunday morning at 10 on Business, Equity, and Opportunities on WISH-TV, wishtv.com, and the official WISH-TV app.