College, the place where some come to seek degrees and others launch their dreams. Virginia Tech students, Bryan Kamenga and Eric Mbualungu are doing both. Two millennials from Northern Virginia who are cousins, best friends and business partners have made a long-time daydream come true: Zappy Industries . “If you’ve ever had something in the back of your mind that you’ve always wanted to do and have never gotten around to doing it, definitely don’t wait,” said Bryan. “No matter what it is, there’s nothing too crazy.”
Pictured Byran Kamenga wearing Zappy “Geo Wave” Zappy Industries is a clothing brand inspired by popular brands such as Nike and Adidas.
It aims to represent creativity, individualism and originality. The brand has largely focused on t-shirts which come in vibrant colors with the Zappy logo sprawled across the chest in bold patterns and colors which scream good vibes only. “We try to give off the idea of just looking at the bright side and positive thinking,” said Kamenga. However, Zappy Industries is more than just a creative clothing brand. “There’s not many clothing brands or companies where you not only buy their stuff but also contribute to a bigger cause,” said Kamenga. “There’s people out there, in our community and even around the world, that aren’t as lucky as we are. But there is something we can do for them.” Each month the brand partners with a charity organization close to their hearts. In October, for breast cancer awareness month, all pink shirts were sold 5 percent off and 80 percent of total proceeds went to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Zappy Industries looks forward to partnering with various other philanthropy groups and even individual strangers in need in the very near future.
Mbualungu, a laid back light-hearted jokester with a master plan and Kamenga, an intellectual creative, partnered up to make the teenage vision become a reality in late 2016.
The trending eccentric brand, which started off as a twitter name: e25zappy. The letter ‘e’ stood for Eric, the number twenty-five for the 25 th of February, Mbualungu birthday, and a catchy word, zappy, something Mbualungu and friends made up. “I always thought it would be cool to create something that was mine,” said Mbualungu. “I also think clothing is something that you can personalize. I really like that.” Originally started by Kamenga’s roommate, an architect major who helped develop the swanky logo and Eric who had the vision; Zappy Industries began being developed in a small dorm room. “I knew the best place to start this and work on this is in college,” said Mbualungu. “I knew that we had so many opportunities and networking chances at our advantage to create something. It’s a great opportunity in college and we can all work together.” “I was at first skeptical of the idea,” said Kamenga. “I thought ‘that’s kind of crazy.’ But after a while, I started to see that with school happening they started to lose time that they could put into the brand. I knew that it was something that could fade away. I went from being skeptical to thinking back about how my cousin was so excited to be doing it. I didn’t want to see it crash and burn so fast.” Being only a freshman, Kamenga took initiative to help develop the brand as much as possible. “I started using social media. I started posting things on twitter, Snapchat and Instagram,” said Kamenga. From there, his prominence in the business sprang to life. “I started taking graphic design courses on Lynda and I looked up online graphic design textbooks,” said the dedicated brand co-owner. “After that I got into it and I developed our first design in June which came out in July.” From there, sales began to increase while at the same time allowing all skepticism to fade away. “I was skeptical at the beginning, but I took it and I pretty much made it my child”.
Pictured left to right: Kaitlin Branham wearing Zappy “Splatter”, Honey Powe wearing Zappy “BHM” Limited Edition, Harrison Talton wearing Zappy “Geo Wave”, Tracy Dias wearing unreleased shirt
It was no easy task to turn the idea into fruition say the pair. Mbualungu even admits that it’s one of the hardest things he’s ever done but also one of the most rewarding.“I had some people that told me ‘it’s not that cool’ or ‘it’s not going to go anywhere’ and that was nine months ago,” said the young business owner. “Today we’re at a better place than we’ve ever been so far”. The two understood that things would not be smooth sailing, but they were always striving for success. “You get out what you put in,” said a determined Kamenga. When asked what kept them motivated, Mbualungu recited a simple yet powerful quote that he made and lives by: “Have confidence in yourself and your personality because no one else will.”.
As of now, Zappy Industries has an online store where they have created over ten different designs. They hope to create at least eleven to fifteen new designs to sell by the end of January. Future projects also include socks, hats and sportswear. “We want everyone on this campus to own a shirt – that’s the goal,” said Kamenga when asked about Zappy’s future goals. “I want this brand to spread and make a difference,” said Mbualungu. “I want to prove to people that by me working hard I can make my dreams come true and make something huge — by just working hard at it every day.”
Pictured: Honey Powe wearing Zappy “BHM” Limited Edition, Eric Mbualungu wearing Zappy “BHM” Limited Edition – these shirts are limited edition tees only available during Black History Month Photo Source: MODERN,Virginia Tech’s very own group of artistic creatives consisting of Tyler Jackson, Salar Raoufi, and Emmanuel Benjamin. Feature photo: