Ever since he was 5, with a longing to buy a teddy bear with not enough money, Benjamin Stern has had the entrepreneurial spirit. Most 5 year-old kids would whine and complain to their parents about not having the money for the teddy bear, but he is different. Instead of doing this, he went to the mall and peddled cookies. Stern bought cookies from Costco and sold them individually at malls near him. He managed to strike a nice profit on these. He then began selling coffee door to door and giving 10% of the proceeds to Wounded Warriors. One day as he was doing the dishes, he began observing the detergent pod and wondered why there wasn’t a pod for toiletries like shampoos or shaving cream. That is where Nohbo came into fruition, he wanted to make a biodegradable pod that disintegrated when it reacted with shower water. He actually went onto Shark Tank and signed a deal with Mark Cuban for an investment of $100k. What is cool about this company is that first, Stern is in high school. Second, it has a larger impact than just striking a profit off of a unique idea. Stern is limiting plastic waste by using biodegradable supplies to make these pods. The issue of plastic waste is huge and plastic waste from toiletries is very overlooked. Stern is changing that by ridding the opportunity to get these products in plastic containers. Finally, this product is very unique and he is dealing with a part of the toiletry industry that has not been touched yet. I am confident that there will be companies tagging along trying to sell their similar products. I love this company because it is just proof that you can create a unique idea, that benefits society leaving it better than before, and with the ability to turn a nice profit. What he is doing is really cool and I am excited to see where he goes from here. He says he is working on getting his product into hotels because there is a lot of money in that sector. Stern knows where the money and markets are and he is not afraid to branch out to reach them. Very impressive kid.