Building MarkitIt: How One Spark! Alumni Transformed a Family Need into a Thriving Venture

For years, Raheeq Ibrahim (CDS ’25) had been sitting on an idea inspired by her family — a way to help small business owners find the right pop-up markets and bring more transparency to the market ecosystem. It wasn’t until she took XC475: Spark! Innovation Fellowship Program, where she finally found the structure, mentorship, and momentum to bring it to life.

Raheeq’s Spark! journey almost seemed inevitable given how closely BU Spark! collaborates with BU’s chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). Ibrahim served as NSBE’s Technical Outreach and Community  Help Chair, Vice President of External Affairs, and eventually President. Through MassMutual, Spark! and NSBE were able to send over 80 students to Afrotech during Raheeq’s time in the organization. Raheeq credits her fellow NBSE members with exposing her to Spark!. While she was a SWE intern at SAIL, Raheeq’s manager and Spark! Alum, Asad Malik, encouraged her to apply for XC475.

The idea she applied with became MarkitIt, a platform that Raheeq says supports a critical revenue stream for small business owners like her family. “XC475 was the perfect pathway to actually start working on this idea. During the course, identifying my problem and conducting user interviews were emphasized. I wish I knew just how important this was back then. Through Spark!,  I was able to build a prototype of MarkitIt, having a designer and experienced fellows all working towards a goal,” she says.

Raheeq says that through the course, her idea was validated. This led her and her co-founder to form a C-Corp and work on MarkIt ever since.

“We went full on in MarkitIt following my graduation. We were accepted into an accelerator, Rightshift & InutioLabs, in June and graduated in September. From our Demo Day, we were able to raise funds and continue product development. We were also accepted to Slauson & Co’s VC summer school in LA. We had one contract signed, curating the marketplace of BaddieCon with our platform, POC Women in Tech Conference in NYC,” she says. To round out her list of recent accomplishments, MarkIt is in the top 7 of an ongoing pitch competition by Black Girl Ventures taking place on November 7, with a chance to take home $30,000.

Looking back, Raheeq credits XC475 with helping her build the skills she uses every day as a founder. “Talking to customers was the most important skill,” she says. Outside of that applicable soft skill, she says that leading a project, being a scrum master, and keeping her team on task has been critical to her success.

She also shared advice for future students considering the course.

“It may seem annoying how long the ‘problem’ phase draws out, or having to do 100 user interviews. But if I could go back, I would do more and really take them more seriously. The course is almost perfectly structured to grow your venture, and I didn’t realize this until I ended up doing everything I did in Spark! again.”