Penji, a tech startup that specializes in unlimited graphic design recently announced they are joining Camden New Jersey. Cofounders Johnathan Grzybowski and Khai Tran launched Penji with the goal of being able to hire students in Camden. Penji was launched on October 21st, 2017, the day after Camden Catalyst concluded. Penji’s growth exploded right after the new year when businesses and startups in the local region began looking to revitalize their own brand.

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The Camden based startup began with 8 customers on their platform back in October of 2017. Today they’re closing registration at 200 customers. It was an interesting decision for the cofounders to close the registration of Penji when their company was growing so rapidly.

“We decided to close registration because we didn’t want to take on more customers than we could realistically handle. We’d much rather slow down, allow our team to adjust to our growth, and give each and every customer dedicated attention. And when we’re ready for more customers we’ll open the doors again.” – Johnathan Grzybowski

Both Johnathan Grzybowski and Khai Tran have been long time members of Waterfront Lab, currently the only coworking space in Camden NJ. Waterfront Lab is managed by Melissa Le, a young and talented entrepreneur who left her her position as an office manager for another startup in NYC to join Camden after she saw the growing startup community. Penji’s growth also signals time for Waterfront Lab to expand its wings to accommodate more tech startups planning to enter the city of Camden.

In addition to the growing startup community in Camden, Penji is also hiring students and residents in Camden. One of their main objective to succeed as a startup in Camden is to provide jobs and opportunities to students and residents first. Khai Tran believes that the best way to grow and revitalize Camden is by bringing more jobs that are compatible with students in the city. With more jobs, students won’t need to leave Camden and will be able to stay and help revitalize their own community.

Penji has already hired 5 students from Camden, amongst them is Sekinah Brodie, a former student of Hopeworks ‘N Camden, and Naciye Cakir, a recent graduate of Rutgers Camden. 

With their recent growth of 200 new accounts, cofounder Khai Tran is looking to train and hire a lot more students this year.

“Our goal is to be able to hire 100 students by the end of 2019. That’s where we see ourselves going right now. It might be a bit ambitious on our part, however hiring students from Camden has been one of the best decisions we’ve made as a business. When we hire locally, the students here are usually more motivated, driven, and willing to help us grow. Because they know they’re a part of a positive movement that could change the landscape of their neighborhood within the next 5 to 10 years. We have a team that believes in the same vision as we do and are willing to go the extra mile every day to get there. We’re truly blessed.” – Khai Tran