CO4, a small student-run coffee business at Pakuranga College
Entrepreneur Name: Helen Lam, Hubert Lai, Sheenu Ragunathan, and Jack, (Age: 13)
Business Name: CO4 (Student-run business), Auckland, New Zealand
This is a small student-run coffee business at Pakuranga College, who, alongside all Kiwis, have felt the impacts of Covid-19. The 13-year-old teens Helen Lam, Hubert Lai, Sheenu Ragunathan, and Jackshen Lee felt immense pressure during these challenging times as they struggled to find a direction to pivot their business in. It is a Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) business. They wanted to provide a high-quality instant coffee that should be like a barista. They made it eco-friendly by making their product a simplistic, biodegradable coffee bag with unique flavours inspired by the diverse cultures around the world. Their product aims to feature culturally-inspired flavours from New Zealand before showcasing other foreign cultural flavours. As CO4 values these foreign cultures, they aim to donate a percentage of proceeds to various local charities where the flavour is inspired from. This is extremely important for business members. CO4 is excited to announce their first flavour launch in mid-July 2020, inspired by Kiwi culture. But there is a lack of money funding. the Lion Foundation’s Young Enterprise Scheme saw the potential for them to grow and awarded their business $500 seed funding from the University of Waikato.
The excitement they all felt was “unreal” to receive $500 which relieved the heavy financial stress brought upon them during such a precarious time. You can support this aspiring group of adolescent entrepreneurs by contacting them through their social media outlets (provided) and help them to educate NZ society on coffee cultures around the world whilst enjoying a cup of barista-quality instant coffee. They will be posting updates on their social media and website blog, recording their journey along the way.
