13세 개구장이 소녀 사장님의 아이디어는, 가장 잘팔리는 "레모네이드"였다. 학교공부도 소홀히 할수 없다고 포부밝혀

개구장이로 한창 뛰어 놀아야할13세의 그나이에, Mikaila는 회사의 사장으로 눈코 뜰새없이  바쁜  하루하루를 보내고 있다는, 능력과 Idea만 있으면, 나이는 아무 상관없이, 그뜻을 펼칠수 있는곳이 지구상에서 유일하게 미국인것을 보여주는 화제의 주인공이 있다.

요즘같이 불볕더위가 전 지구상에서 인간 뿐만이 아니고 모든 생명체를 비롯한 집안 정원의 잔디까지도 노랗게 말라 죽게하는 불덩이 속에서, 이 귀여운 꼬마 아가씨는 화제의 인물이 되여, 전문가들의 관심이 되고 있다.

"Me & The Bees Lemonade" 아직 귀에 익지 않은 상품명이지만, 그녀가 만든 레오네이드 드링크가 요즘 불티나게, 500개가 넘는 상점에서 팔리고 있다.

 미디어의 방송출연 요청에  나가야 하고, 사업도 돌봐야 하고, 그러다보니 학교에서의 성적, 특히 수학은 C학점을 받는  수난도 겪고 있다고 하는 고충도 얘기한다.

이 귀여운 꼬마 아가씨는 비즈니스 경력이 꽤 길다고 한다. 그녀가 4세때부터 이사업을 시작했으니 말이다.  그녀 부모님의 도움으로 2009년도부터 그녀가 만든 레모네이드를 판매하기 시작했다고 한다. 부모님과 함께 살고있던 집앞뜰에 조그만 테이블을 설치하고 그곳에서, 그녀의 할머니가 1940년대에 만들었던 비법을 전수받아 시작한게  시발점이었다고 한다.

비법은 레모네이드에 꿀을  혼합시키는 것이었고, 그무렵 꼬마 아가씨는 2주 동안에 2마리의꿀벌에 쏘이는 수난을 겪기도  했었다고 한다.  그녀의 부모님은  꿀벌을  미워하지 말고, 더 주의깊에 살펴보기를 권했었고, 꿀벌들이 식물들이 열매를 맺는데 중매쟁이 역활을 하는것과 환경에 많은 영향을 주고 있다는데서 영감을 얻어, 레모네이드를 판매한 돈의 일부를 꿀벌보호협회에 기부하게 된다.

이결과로 그녀가 만든 레모네이드는 그지방의 피자샾에 공급하기 시작했고, 계속해서 비즈니스는 성장하여, 이익금의 10%는 꿀법보호협회에 계속적으로 Donation 됐었다.  공부는 계속해서 하겠다는 다부진 포부도 밝히고 있다.

미국은 아이디어마 신선하면, 그능력을 발휘할수 있는 사회적 여건이 충족되여 있다는 한증거가 아닐까?

아래에 그얘기는 계속 이어진다.

The BBC's weekly The Boss series profiles a different business leader from around the world. This week we spoke to Mikaila Ulmer, the 13-year-old chief executive of Me & The Bees Lemonade.

Mikaila Ulmer's lemonade is now stocked in more than 500 stores across the US, but unfortunately she has slipped to a "C" in her maths class.
Running a successful business is very much a full-time job, but Mikaila - the founder and boss of Me & The Bees Lemonade - also has to make time for her school work.
Just 13 years old, one day she will be in class, the next she could be speaking at an entrepreneurship conference.
"It is not the easiest, that is for sure," she says.
"Sometimes I have to miss classes to do an interview, or travel for a TV show. Or I'll miss a big show or presentation because I have a large project or test at school."
Now selling 360,000 bottles of her lemonade a year, with stockists including upmarket supermarket chain Whole Foods Market, Mikaila is one of the youngest business owners in the US.

Yet while she only recently became a teenager, she has actually been running her Austin, Texas based business since she was four.
With the continuing help of her parents, Mikaila first started selling her lemonade in 2009. That year she set up a table in front of the family home, and began selling lemonade based on a 1940s recipe from her great-grandmother.

The recipe contains honey, and around the same time Mikaila got stung by two bees in two weeks.
Her mother and father advised her that rather than freaking out at the sight of every bee, she should do some research to better understand them, and the crucial role they play in pollination, and the wider ecosystem.
This inspired Mikaila to give some of the money she raised from the sale of the lemonade to organisations that protect honey bees.
Soon the business was supplying a local pizza shop, and it has grown since then, with 10% of profits continuing to be donated to bee conservation groups.

But with Mikaika's mother, D'Andra, and father, Theo, actively involved in the business, it begs the question - who is is actually in charge?
"It was all me at the beginning, squeezing the lemonade at my stand, but then my parents designed some nice stickers for the cups," says Mikaila.

"As the business got larger I had to say, 'I can't do this alone.' That's when I had to start asking, 'Mom, Dad, how do I get a logo? And into a manufacturer? And more stores?'"
The fact that both parents have business school degrees certainly must help, with D'Andra having a background in marketing and sales, and Theo in business operations.
Yet D'Andra says that she and Theo had "zero" experience of the food and beverage sector.
Mikaila says it is all about teamwork.
"We're considered co-CEOs, because I make decisions that my parents wouldn't make, and my parents make decisions that I wouldn't make," she says.
"Also, I am young... I know I don't know everything, and so I am definitely going to take their advice and opinions into consideration."

The big breakthrough for the business came in 2015 when Mikaila was nine. At the start of that year it won the contract to supply Whole Foods Market.
"Mikaila and her company caught our attention on a number of fronts," says Whole Foods Market's Jenna Gelgand.
"She had a unique product that tasted great, along with a strong, passionate founder and social mission.
"We were immediately impressed with Mikaila as a young entrepreneur, and with her vision to create awareness around the importance of pollinators."

More The Boss features, which every week profile a different business leader from around the world:

• How two strangers set up Dropbox and made billions
• The polio survivor who says she ‘was one of the lucky ones’
• The man who created a $2bn ice cream firm in his kitchen
• The $5bn tech boss who grew up without electricity
• 'The day I was diagnosed was the worst of my life'

Later in 2015 Mikaila was introduced to TV viewers across the US when she appeared on entrepreneurship show Shark Tank (the American version of UK programme Dragons' Den).
Her pitch to a group of potential investors was good to enough to persuade one of them - Daymond John, boss of clothing firm FUBU - to invest $60,000 (£46,000).
Two years later, a consortium of former and current American football players invested $800,000.

Mikaila continues to win numerous awards for young entrepreneurs and African-American business owners, and she has been praised by former US President Barack Obama.
When he was still in office he invited her to the White House in 2015, and a year later she introduced him at a women's summit.
Geoffrey Soares, owner of Summit Beverage Group, which started bottling for Me & The Bees Lemonade last year, says that Mikaila is a very strong brand ambassador.
"You can have a great product, but if you don't have a great story, how are you going to get noticed? This is a really tough industry," he says.
"Without Mikaila, I would question how they would break through. She is very important, but at the same time everyone needs help - they are a good family, and they are committed to building something."

Mikaila says she now hopes to launch additional businesses, but school is also on her mind.
"I want to start new companies - to me having one company gets boring sometimes," she says.
"I like coming up with business names and new logos to design, that's the most fun bit for me. I'm also nervous about high school, but looking forward to making new friends and not wearing a uniform."



https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44860428