Matthew Tukel has his hands full.
The 21-year-old Wayne State Honors student is in the process of selling 313 Energy, an energy drink he created at 17, to a local beverage distributor. He spends weekends building drones and just finished a three-year stint at Park Family Healthcare, a Detroit clinic serving low-income patients. And for good measure, Tukel also mentors and speaks to high school and college students about his experience creating and managing a company.
Tukel’s 313 Energy was born in an entrepreneurship class at West Bloomfield's Frankel Jewish Academy. Tukel and classmate Sawyer Altman set out to create a marketable product that would give back to the community. Brainstorming ideas, they agreed “Detroit needs energy.” That idea started the process of bringing 313 Energy to life as the all-natural, low-calorie, Detroit-based energy drink that donates 11 cents of every can sold to the Detroit Public Schools Foundation.
“The drink not only energizes the consumer, it energizes DPS students through donations,” Tukel said. In 2014, 313 Energy was awarded a prestigious Champion of Education award from the Detroit Public Schools Foundation.
Local entrepreneur Josh Linkner, a founding member of Detroit Venture Partners, reached out to Tukel and Altman after reading about 313 Energy and offered them guidance in turning their idea into a full-fledged company.
Managing and distributing an energy drink is time consuming for a full-time college student. When Altman went to Stanford and Tukel began at WSU, the Tukel family stepped in to help. Even though 313 Energy is changing ownership, Tukel will remain involved and the DPS partnership will continue. “If you’re trying to revitalize the city, it starts with the students,” he said.
A third-generation WSU student, the university is in Tukel’s genes. His father and grandfather are alumni of WSU’s School of Medicine, and his mother is an alumna of WSU’s speech-language pathology program. Tukel’s younger brother, Connor, is enrolled in the Honors College as well.
Another interest of Tukel’s is drone technology. When he realized WSU did not yet have a student interest group, he founded Detroit Aerial Innovations (formally Detroit Drone), which aims to promote and facilitate technology, entrepreneurship and craftsmanship as it relates to the rapidly growing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) sector. Students are provided the knowledge, resources and materials needed to construct their own UAV model.
Detroit Aerial Innovations plans to focus on the social impacts and implications of UAVs and, more specifically, how these devices can be used as tools in society and their place in the revitalization of Detroit. Recently, Detroit Aerial Innovations partnered with Detroit Aircraft Corp. to further learn about the development of experimental aircraft from local experts. Students spend weekends at Coleman A. Young International Airport testing, building and occasionally crashing drones. Check out Tukel’s UAV video of Detroit from a bird’s-eye view.
Tukel’s goal is to be a surgeon and explore entrepreneurship and technology within medicine. Based on his achievements thus far, there’s no doubt he will keep inventing, exploring and giving back to the community. Tukel’s major is Near Eastern Languages, and he plans to attend the WSU School of Medicine in fall 2017.