Kidpreneurs: Meet the young South Australians making their own way in the world of business
They’re still in school but these young South Aussie entrepreneurs are already making their mark in the business world with innovative products and clever designs.
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The Advertiser’s recent Teen Parliament highlighted the fact that, with their passion and fresh ideas, SA’s future is in very good hands.
Young South Aussies are also forging their own way in the business world, with many of them designing their own products and launching their own brands - while still in school.
From a eight-year-old soap maker to a ten-year-old jewellery designer, these are the kids that prove age is just a number.
We’ve spoken to some of the state’s youngest money makers making a difference to their community and their bank balance.
Business: A Drop of Happiness
Kidprenuer: Sophie Tirri, 10, Magill.
St Joseph’s School Hectorville student, Sophie Tirri designs, makes and sells clay earrings for her business, A Drop of Happiness.
She started the when she was nine after seeing her brother participate in their school’s entrepreneurship program and develop his own business, Rawsome Foods.
“I saw my brother learning about businesses and having success of his own, which inspired me to look more closely at making earrings for my family,” Sophie said.
In her spare time, Sophie continues to hone her craft, learning new techniques, mixing colours and creating new stock to sell.
“Ask my family; I’m always creating at my desk, or on my computer looking for new ideas, trends and materials to use with my own earring creations,” she said.
Sophie said she was ready to learn how to develop her own website, which, she said, she would learn soon thanks to her school’s entrepreneurship program.
She also wants to stock her A Drop of Happiness earrings in homeware and gift shops.
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Sophie’s teachers are very impressed with her thriving business.
“It is extremely impressive to see a young student taking initiative in something that she is passionate about. Her drive and motivation will see her be successful in her future endeavours,” St Joseph’s School Hectorville teacher, Carla Carbone said.
Business: Paws in the Pantry
Kidpreneurs: Benjamin Butler, 9, Sophie Butler, 7, Kensington Park.
This year, students from Norwood’s St Josephs Memorial School, Benjamin Butler and Sophie Butler came across a book in their local library.
In that book, “Rainbow Eggs”, was the story of a boy who started his own free-range egg business at the age of nine.
Inspired by the boy’s entrepreneurship and their own dog, Tilly, the siblings started Paws in the Pantry — a healthy dog treat business.
Using “very fussy” Tilly as their taste-tester, their homemade baked treats were a hit at the dog park.
“We started telling people at our local dog park, and we sold to friends as well,” Benjamin and Sophie said.
They also decided to use social media to spread the word and are currently working on a website.
“We want our business to be a big success,” they said.
“We want to sell at local markets such as Gillies Street Markets and the Adelaide Farmers Market. We want to have a shop and sell Australia wide.”
Paws in the Pantry might be a new business, but the pair already have their sights set on using 100 per cent recyclable packaging and all Australian ingredients.
Business: Amalia Malaika
Kidprenuer: Amalia Knapp, 8, Cowandilla
Eight-year-old Amalia is a fashion designer and candle and soap maker.
Her business is called Amalia Malaika, and all her profits are redistributed to Kenyan schools in need.
‘Malaika’ means angel in Swahili.
Amalia sells a range of products including ‘Soaps 4 Soaps’, where each soap purchased will buy a soap and a ‘tippy tap’ for Kenyan children in need.
Tippy taps are upright taps made from recycled materials, powered by a foot pedal.
Amalia also makes jelly soaps, wax melt burners and ‘Love Heals the World’ candles which come with healing crystals.
Amalia started Amalia Malaika when she was six years old because she loved “mixing potions”.
She has since expanded her entrepreneur focus to include fashion designing.
Her first collection is called “African Heritage” and Amalia models the clothes herself.
Business: Flinders Fruit
Kidprenuers Zac Kotaras, 11, Ava Kotaras, 10
Flinders Fruit is a dried fruit business run by St Marks College sibling duo, Zac and Ava Kotaras.
“Mum and Dad buy dried fruits and we thought they’d be easy enough to make,” said Ava.
After buying a dehydrator, the pair started experimenting with different fruits until they got it just right.
Selling their product at the Port Pirie Markets, they’ve proved extremely popular.
“We’ve sold lots of bags,” the pair said.
Despite their rapid success, Zac and Ava haven’t let it get to their heads.
They’re constantly listening to their customers and revisiting their strategy, with plans to introduce strawberries.
“It’s really fun (running Flinders Fruit) and we like earning money,” they said, adding that it has been “fun meeting new people at the markets.”
With plans to be at the next Port Pirie Markets, Zac and Ava want Flinders Fruits to become huge.
Business: 99% Marley
Kidprenuer: Marley Sirengo, 12, Cowandilla
When Marley Sirengo was five his mum was arrested in Qatar, the country they had been living at the time.
After losing her job, strict Qatar labour laws meant that Marley’s mum was held under country arrest because she held a bank loan in the country.
They froze her passport, took her house in Qatar and houses in Australia, leaving her with no choice but to send her children to Australia, with nothing.
Marley and his sisters were flown to Australia to be with their grandmother.
It would be three years until the siblings were reunited with their mum.
When she came back, they had nothing to their name.
“I wanted to win the lottery so we could move from my grandma’s house,” Marley said.
Instead, Marley decided he would monetise his passion for scootering and create a line of merchandise to sell when he was 10-years-old.
Marley is the founder and creator of 99% Marley, a clothing line that he says aims to spread kindness, gratitude and courage.
The line includes T-shirts, hoodies, baseball caps and beanies which he sells online and at local Adelaide markets.
He also produces and hosts a podcast called 99 seconds with Marley where he asks his guests about their thoughts on kindness, gratitude and courage.
He enjoys being an entrepreneur.
“I get to meet lots of people,” Marley said.
“I go to adult networking events with my business cards and invite people to be on my podcast.
“I’ve become more confident and like talking about what I do and the impact I can create for others.”
Business: Maisha Flow
Kidpreneur: Aaliyah Sirengo, 18, Cowandilla
Aaliyah Sirengo was adopted from Kenya when she was a baby by a woman from Adelaide. In 2019, the pair went back to Kenya to the community where Aaliyah was born, and built two schools in resource-poor communities.
After noticing girls did not regularly attend lessons, she discovered it was due to their lack of sanitary products.
Aaliyah started Maisha Flow when she was 16-years-old with the intention of eradicating period poverty in Kenya.
Maisha Flow hosts lunches to raise funds for her cause, which Aaliyah calls “Little Lunch”.
She also sells colouring books where 100 per cent of sales are donated.
When designing the book, Aaliyah thought to include a variety of period facts throughout the pages to raise awareness for her cause.
Aaliyah’s dream for the business is to impact one million girls.
“Girls (with access to sanitary products) are empowered with uninterrupted education, do not have to perform sexual favours in exchange for sanitary pads and have more power over their bodies and choices,” she said.
Business: IndyyPop
Kidprenuer: Indiana Fowler, 10, Seaton
Ten-year-old Nazareth Catholic College student Indiana Fowler has always had crazy ideas but none as great as her idea to start IndyyPop — a custom T-shirt and label business.
“I thought it would be fun to design T-shirts and labels because I’ve always been creative,” she said.
Indiana was nine when she launched IndyyPop and has loved every moment.
“I like coming up with my own ideas and I get to take control of what I want to do with my life,” she said.
Although she loves IndyyPop, Indiana said it can be challenging trying to juggle the demands of the business with school and sports but it hasn’t dampened her enthusiasm.
“I want to grow my brand and create multiple successful companies,” she said.
You can find IndyyPop on Instgram, Tiktok and Facebook.
Business: Lavender Leaves
Kidpreneurs: Milena Tokič, 11, Lucija Tokič, Lily Giannitto, 11, Rosie Giannitto, 11 - all from Prospect
After reading the classic series “The Babysitters Club”, Milena Tokič was inspired to start her own business club — later joined by Lucija Tokič, Lilly Giannitto and Rosie Giannitto.
That birthed Lavender Leaves, a multifaceted business that creates jewellery and sells plants, stickers, calming crystals and scrunchies.
The girls started small, selling aloe vera to their teachers at their school after school hours.
Steadily they have increased their capacity, selling handmade stickers to students and plants for Mother’s Day.
“We all contribute and put our time and effort into our club,” the girls said. “And it helps build our friendship.”
The girls are hoping that others are inspired to customise their own items for their club.
Zane Sheffield, 17, Loxton
Agtech by Design
After participating in the Shark Tank program, Zane Sheffield created Agtech by Design — a agriculture design business.
Mrs Yandell, Zane’s Business Innovation teacher at Loxton High School, spoke to him about combining his love of agriculture and 3D printing.
“I used 3D printing for building prototypes,” Zane said.
Agtech by Design builds spray systems, with AI in-built, for use in farming, plus they can also fit solenoids and cameras to existing systems.
While Agtech by Design is still in the early stages, Zane has been working with ThincLab at the University of Adelaide, the university’s business incubator.
“My dream is to manufacture and sell our spray system worldwide,” he said.
Zane is planning to apply for grants to finalise testing and manufacturing costs, and is also on the lookout for an “angel investor” to help take Agtech by Design to the next level.
Jack Virieux, 15, Mount Barker
Business: Jet and Cleo
Jet and Cleo is a dog accessories business that sells bandannas, collars, leads, poo bag holders and bow ties made by Heathfield High School student, Jack Virieux.
He started Jet and Cleo when he was 14 while participating in his high school’s entrepreneur program.
“I love dogs and wanted to make cool accessories for them,” Jack explained.
“I thought there was a gap in the market”.
Jet and Cleo is going extremely well according to Jack, who is selling steadily on Facebook and Instagram and is also stocked in four commercial stores.
“I have some new products in the pipeline. I’m also working on my website and improving my packaging,” he said.
Skye Johnson, 15, Adelaide Hills
Business: Skye Designs
After joining her school’s (Heathfield High) entrepreneur program, Skye Johnson was inspired to start her own sign business Skye Designs.
Skye purchases blank signs from another business, then painstakingly paints designs on them by hand.
“The range of signs I have are for home, weddings, and are perfect for giving a personal aspect to any occasion,” she said.
Skye is currently working to extend her products to include home decor items such as handpainted mirrors and terracotta pots, with more to come later in the year.
While Skye Designs is a business venture for Skye, she also refers to it as a social enterprise with a percentage of her profits going towards breast cancer charities.
Skye’s next step will be to advertise her service at local markets and collaborate with other small businesses.
“The small business community is such an amazing place and you feel so welcome and there is so much support,” she said.
When Skye isn’t working on her business or attending school, she is “a pretty busy 15-year-old” working as a waitress.
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