A bright Stanford freshman is ready to tackle the w
orld with her new idea. Nicole Birkner of Costa Rica is an 18 year old entrepreneur making her dream a reality with her new business “Fresquiticos.” Growing up, Nicole was only allowed to drink soda on weekends. So during a Sunday beverage she began to wonder, “What can I do to be able to enjoy soda on week days?” She began experimenting with local Costa Rican fruit juices and sugars and began to develop all-natural recipes for making homemade soda. She had invented fruit juice soda, with Costa Rican fruits, carbonated spring water and agave nectar for a much healthier sweetener.
During her junior year, her teacher organized an entrepreneur-esque class of developing a project over the course of six months. This would be the perfect stage to showcase her idea. With research taking the form of a 45-page essay, and countless experimenting to concoct 50 bottles of soda, Nicole received 100% grades from all judges at the final presentation. From this encouraging result and success, Nicole went on to compete in “The Diamond Challenge for High School Entrepreneurs.” It was here she worked with her colleague Diego Uribe on the project to prepare for the Challenge. Along the way Nicole decided that 10% of the profits would go to her own “Youth in Motion” program in Costa Rica to fund the foundation extracurricular activities for public schools in her country. Also she decided to use recyclable glass bottles for the sodas to reduce waste.
Nicole plans to begin distributing her product in Costa Rican schools where soda is not allowed. She is hoping to provide a healthier alternative to soda, that is all natural and tasty. She is in contact with supermarket chains in Costa Rica and some retailers in the United States. Nicole has even spoken at TEDxPuraVida in Costa Rica.
Nicole gives a motivating quote; “Ever since I was young, I would hear people complaining about everything, but they would do absolutely nothing about the problems. I want people to see me changing things and want to change things themselves.”
For full interview, check out Marie Griffin’s article at Hatchpad: http://www.hatchpad.co/blog/nicole-birkner-founder-partner-fresquiticos
I want some! Nicole is on to something and I hope the increase in sparkling, essenced water doesn’t detract her from success in the short run. I believe she will be successful in this idea, as kids are not going to be huge La Croix fans but may want a fancy juice. The idea of this fruit juice pop has been seen in the beverage Spindrift which is carbonated water with natural fruit juices, but on a smaller scale and just provides a taste that is stronger than that found in La Croix or Bubly. I am hopeful for Nicole.
This is so cool and extremely impressive. She spotted a need and created a innovative way to solve it. It is insane how young she was when she started. I also love the redemptive angle she decided to take by giving back to her community and using recycled bottles. These are small, but extremely important ways that a business can be about more than just money.
Wow, what a cool story! My parents wouldn’t let me drink soda often as a kid either, so it’s really amazing to see someone actually do something about it. I’ve been to the Dominican Republic on missions trips, and they make amazing fruit juices. I’m just imagining them as sodas, and my mouth is watering. She showed a lot of innovation and creativity for someone so young. She just identified a problem and actually did something about it instead of complaining. How amazing!
Nicole’s innovation and creativity are both something to be impressed with. At such a young age she moved to solve a problem that she encountered in her own daily life. In solving that problem she seems to have created a product that soda drinkers can use as a healthy alternative to regular soda. There is definitely a gap in the soda market there. Nicole’s innovation has found that gap and can hopefully benefit from finding such a spot.
Nicole’s ingenuity in creating not a new product but a much better, healthier version of an existing product is something to be admired. It is nice to see that she is solving so many problems at once with her idea. She is providing students with a healthy alternative to traditional soda, many more choices of flavors than regular soda, and she is making a lot of money in the process.