Our Very Own Floridian Teen Entrepreneur For NOHBO, Swimming With The Sharks

`Dear Friends & Neighbors,

(Please click on red links & note magenta)

It is simply marvelous when one sees our future generation identifying and solving a currently existing problem, then taking the initiative in carrying out what is necessary to be part of the solution by becoming an entrepreneur! Not only was I tickled, but all the sharks at the Shark Tank agreed!

Last month, one of our very own Floridian teens, 16-year-old Benjamin Stern of Melbourne, was featured on Shark Tank on ABC and received overwhelming applause and support from the sharks (active investors). Benjamin, realizing the problem of plastics in our environment (one plastic bottle can take up to 1,000 years to decompose),

Plastic bottle in the lake (photographed by Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker)

he came up with a solution in reducing the amount of plastic used and disposed in our environment. Apparently Benjamin got the idea while watching a video about plastic waste in his 9th grade classroom and seeing his mother’s laundry detergent pods, then decided that he’d want to try the same with having shampoo and other personal products through a similar delivery system. Voila, henceforth, the birth of the NOHBO (No Hair Bottle) Ball, a small ball with shampoo, conditioner, or soap inside.

NOHBO1-No bottle, no waste

Each ball is designed for single use.

NOHBO4-No bottle, no waste

Upon contact with water, the one-inch diameter ball’s membrane would dissolve and release a semi-dry substance that lathers easily with water. Benjamin is starting a test run with some large hotels and hopes to have everything up and running by October 2016. To obtain funding, he got a job, borrowed from friends and family, dipped into his college account, and acquired $20,000 in pro bono legal services from an area law firm. He also got a chemist to help him to develop the product, obtaining several patents. He is creating a new product delivery system that he wants to license to big companies. After receiving multiple offers from the sharks, Benjamin decided to take the deal offered by Mark Cuban for $100k in exchange for 25% of the equity of the company. Mark was quite impressed by the product idea, the fact that Benjamin contacted Mr.  Cuban directly (reminded Mark Cuban much of himself at that age). Take a look at Benjamin’s NOHBO, below:

www.sunisthefuture.net

www.kiva.org/team/sunisthefuture

www.facebook.com/sunisthefuture

www.pinterest.com/sunisthefuture

www.youtube.com/user/sunisthefuture

www.cafepress.com/sunisthefuture

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