Colby student named CMGC 2020 Emerging Leader of the Year

WATERVILLE — Josh Kim, founder and CEO of The Cubby, has been named Central Maine Growth Council and KVConnect 2020 Emerging Leader of the Year Award.
The award was presented at Central Maine Growth Council’s Annual Meeting. Kim, a Colby College junior, is the first college student to receive the Emerging Leader Award.
Kim launched The Cubby, an online marketplace for college students, at Colby in February, while he was a sophomore. In three months, The Cubby logged more than $10,000 in transactions and registered more than 800 student users. The “marketplace for college students” launched again in September and is now live at multiple institutions including the University of Maine, Boston College and Northeastern University. Kim has plans to expand into Thomas College, Bates College and Bowdoin College in the near future.
The Cubby, formerly Sklaza, is devoted to the sale of IONS (items only needed by students). The marketplace tackles overconsumption, encourages recycling and environmental sustainability, and avoids the pitfalls of public marketplaces that, while marketed to college students, allow non-student sellers to post items unrelated to student needs. Items that have been advertised and sold on The Cubby include textbooks, furniture, clothing and electronics.
In June The Cubby was awarded a software development grant by the Maine Technology Institute, which Kim is using to support expansion across college campuses. In addition, Kim presented in Greenlight Maine’s collegiate entrepreneurship challenge earlier this year. The competition, which offers a $25,000 prize, is a sub-competition of Greenlight Maine, a statewide pitch TV show designed to encourage business development in the state.
“From a dorm room idea to a startup project, and from a startup project to an innovative small business, Josh is an example of the region’s brilliant young talent, local ingenuity, and an emerging cluster of software development tech startups and innovators in downtown Waterville,” said Garvan Donegan, director of planning, innovation, and economic development at CMGC. “At an exciting inflection growth point, Josh and The Cubby team look to deliver their services well beyond our region and the state’s borders. We are so proud to say that this innovative tech startup was born in Waterville and continues to thrive here.”
“I couldn’t be more excited to receive this milestone award from Central Maine Growth Council and KVConnect,” Kim said. “I couldn’t have gotten here without the support of the entrepreneurial ecosystem here in Maine, and I’m incredibly honored and humbled to be able to call Maine the home of The Cubby. Here’s to growing Maine, one startup at a time.”