Finny earns over $10,000 for business venture through Belmont’s entrepreneurship program
A campus visit brought a surprising discovery to Franklin, Tennessee native Jess Finny. She realized her dream school was not in a major city out-of-state as she once thought, but it was just 20 miles from home.
“When I came to tour, I remembered how fond I was of the school,” Finny said. “I grew up seeing students who attended Belmont in my community, and they were the coolest and most welcoming people.”
In the last four years, the business systems analytics and management double major has found a true sense of belonging on campus.
She has fully embraced student life from participating in InterVarsity with University Ministries to joining the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and serving as a student leader on the Orientation Council in Belmont’s Towering Traditions new student orientation program.
Creating Chechi’s Chai
Finny has not only excelled socially and academically but she has also found success as an entrepreneur. An assignment in her sophomore Foundations of Entrepreneurship with Dr. Austin Brown inspired Finny to take her and her sister’s desire for authentic Indian tea in Nashville and develop a business.
Finny’s experience as a barista gave her a keen understanding of the demand for westernized chai which led her to wonder how authentic chai might be received in Nashville and her hometown.
“Teatime is a huge part of Indian culture,” Finny explained. “The primary tea they drink in India is chai. Chai means tea. In India, you can shop in a store, looking for clothes and they will come with cups of chai and it’s like the best chai you’ve ever had in your life.”
After sharing her idea in class, she fine-tuned a 60-second elevator pitch to present in the Thomas F. Cone Center for Entrepreneurship’s Business Pitch Competition. There, she won second place and $1,000 in seed money to transform her idea into a reality, Chechi’s Chai. Finny also competed in the Cone Center’s Business Plan Competition where students present to win cash awards. Chechi’s Chai took home the first-place award of $5,000 in the Business Plan Competition.
With the winnings, Chechi’s Chai developed into a full-fledged family venture with Jess and her sister Johanna creating the business from scratch.
Chechi means elder sister in Malayalam. The sister duo started by hosting pop-up events around Nashville, Franklin and at Belmont. They soon shifted from pop-ups to weddings and baby showers which provided more stability. Through the support of friends, family and cultural connections within the Indian community, Chechi’s Chai has established a national presence by branching into Texas and New York.
As a junior, she completed two study abroad trips: a Maymester in France, Spain and Morocco and then spent the fall semester in New York through Belmont USA. While in New York, Finny worked at a French restaurant and gained exposure to the food and beverage industry.
“I thought to myself, ‘Wow. I'm so blessed to have done this through Belmont because they set us up so well,’” she recalled. "We were living in Dumbo [Brooklyn] in such a good location. Every day I was in a new place and getting to explore a city that everyone dreams of.”
Throughout the entire business founding process, Finny experienced tremendous support from Belmont.
“Being a business student at Belmont is a game changer,” Finny said. “We wouldn't have done this without Dr. Brown giving me that first push off the ledge and making me fly. There is a confidence that comes with knowing that not only am I learning all these technical and soft skills, but I also always have a community to fall back on.”
Finny has been blown away by the support of professors who keep track of her business and work with her to incorporate classroom knowledge into real-life applications. “They have helped me not just dream, but put practical steps behind the dream,” she said. “The application has just been so cool: to say, ‘This is what I learned in class today, how can we apply it immediately?’”
“Being a business student at Belmont is a game changer. There is a confidence that comes with knowing that not only am I learning all these technical and soft skills, but I also always have a community to fall back on.”
Beyond Business: A Cultural Embrace
Finny’s business venture is more than just selling tea. Through Chechi’s Chai, she has gained confidence in her cultural heritage and matured her faith in God. Her parents immigrated to the U.S. in 2001. Outside of the Indian church that her dad pastors, she didn’t see many people who looked like her growing up in Franklin.
“This has been a healing process for me. My culture was something I renounced most of my childhood,” she explained. “I grew up in a place that didn't really celebrate me and the things that I grew up on — things like chai and traditions. I just felt so different.”
The Finny sisters were also recently featured on a “Today in Nashville” segment on WSMV. Chechi’s Chai has also booked events on campus, including It Must Be Wednesday and the Day to Dream fall festival.
"Watching my sister and mom in front of the Ferris wheel at Day to Dream last fall when I was in New York and seeing them represent our culture by serving chai to my friends made me think, 'Lord, only you could do that,’” she recalled with tear-filled eyes.
After her semester in New York, Finny came back to compete once more in the business plan competition as an established business and won first place and an additional $5,000. Chechi’s Chai has received over $10,000 of funding through Belmont’s entrepreneurship program and Finny plans to step in full-time after graduation.
“I believe that every person has been called for such a time as this — for this generation, for this time in our history — to take what we have learned from such an innovative, empowering, and authentic community as Belmont University and spread the love of Christ on this journey we are embarking on.”
Learn more about the program in this story.