Mikaila Ulmer has proven to have what it takes to be a successful social entrepreneur at only 11 years old. She has attempted to help prevent the death of bees through her lemonade business, since bees are essential to our ecosystem. It is clear that she saw a problem in a different way, and used her lemonade to help solve it.
Her journey began when she signed up for two entrepreneurship contests at just 4 years old. At this time, she got stung by a bee two times. To help ease her fear, her grandma sent her a cookbook that contained her favorite recipe for flax seed lemonade. She then did research on bees and found out that they are dying, and therefore created a product that would help save them.
The product she thought of is called “Me & Bees Lemonade,” which is a flax seed and mint infused beverage that is sweetened mainly with honey from local honeybees. For every bottle sold, Mikaila donates a percentage of the profits to organizations working to ease the plight of bees. After selling her lemonade at local stores, she eventually was asked to sell her lemonade at a high-end grocery store. Her story has even appeared on the national news and shark tank!
Mikaila states that she enjoys telling other people about her story. She wants to make an impact on the world by helping bees, and loves encouraging others. “Don’t go into business to make a lot of money. Create a business that you see that the world is missing, solve a problem with it and do something that you have a passion for,” says Mikaila. Both passion and pain are key aspects of entrepreneurship. The fact that she highlights these reveals her innovative thinking at such a young age, which I find to be very inspiring.
Sources: www.entrepreneur.com
I absolutely love this story, primarily because this girl shows how with a vision and passion, you can accomplish a lot more than people may think is possible. Also, it is such a cool concept to see that a large portion of her business is geared toward a good cause. She wanted to solve a problem to help make the world better, and while making a difference she is also making a profit. Finally, I love the quote where she basically said business isn’t about the money, but about solving a problem.
This is a great post. Kudos to her for attacking a real problem! It’s impressive she was able to get her product to high end grocery stores too.
It is so cool how such a young girl was able to turn something so typical and popular as a girl selling lemonade into a growing high end beverage company with a social relief aspect to it. I loved her quote at the end of this post about how you should go into business because you are passionate about it, not because you are in it for the money. It is neat to see how even someone so young with such a simple idea can be an incredibly successful entrepreneur.