I was SO moved last night watching an ABC show about KID entrepreneurs and especially about ONE in particular!
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::::Jasmine Lawrence "Young and Doing It ":::: Teen Entrepreneur

While the average teenager is earning money babysitting, this young CEO is establishing distribution channels and negotiating prices with suppliers. Starting at only 13 years of age, Jasmine Lawrence, President and CEO of EDEN BodyWorks is on the road to success. With the drive and determination of a seasoned CEO she is strategically making her mark.

EDEN BodyWorks was driven from Jasmine’s own need for a natural hair care solution. Devastated by the harsh chemical products, Jasmine sought to develop unique products that were all natural and really worked. Unlike most products that are cosmetic in nature, her mission was to develop hair care products that actually deliver their their promise of stronger, healthier hair.

Jasmine founded EDEN BodyWorks after being selected to attend a Business Camp sponsored by Goldman Sacs and National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship. “They empowered me�, says Jasmine. She was taught essential business skills and was provided access to resources to help develop and grow her business, including a host of advisors and mentors.

Under the leadership of this dynamic and driven young person, EDEN BodyWorks has experienced tremendous growth with a rapidly expanding customer base. EDEN BodyWorks manufactures and distributes all natural hair and skin care products to beauty/braiding salons and retailers. EDEN BodyWorks also has growing support from religious retailers that market her product to their members; some with over 10 thousand members. Currently being sold in 8 states, Jasmine is working on expanding her line of all natural hair and skin care products.

Http://www.edenbodyworks.net

This young, beautiful black woman is about to do to the haircare industry what Oprah did for media...turn it UPSIDE DOWN and RE-define it! Read her story!

:::Being a CEO isn't child's play, even if you are a child::: By Lauren Etter, The Wall Street Journal

When 15-year-old Jasmine Lawrence comes home from school, she throws down her books, contemplates her homework, and then heads to the basement -- her corporate headquarters. Ms. Lawrence is chief executive officer of Eden Bodyworks LLC, a maker of all-natural beauty supplies. She founded the company at age 13. Now halfway through high school, she is turning a profit and is close to a distribution deal with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the ultimate goal of entrepreneurs everywhere. Ms. Lawrence is in the vanguard of a rising new class of kid entrepreneurs whose business acumen far surpasses that of an ordinary lemonade-stand operator. The most gifted among them, while few in number, are driven leaders armed with sophisticated business plans, corporate attorneys and financial advisers. They skip school to attend business meetings; they don spiffy suits; and they're fluent in the language of commerce.

"When I'm explaining (the business) to my friends, and I'm using all this business lingo, they're like, 'Huh, what?'" says Ms. Lawrence, of Williamstown, N.J. "I think it's pretty cool to be a CEO at age 15." Young entrepreneurs, some of whom can count their age on two hands, are multiplying partly because of the arrival of programs that teach kids M.B.A.-like concepts. CampCEO, for example, is a summer getaway in Carbondale, Ill., that teaches children about negotiations, sales, customer service and leadership. After one week at the camp, which is sponsored by the state-run Southern Illinois Entrepreneurship Center, kids walk away with a briefcase, a business plan and business cards. For African-American youths, Black Enterprise Magazine holds an annual Kidpreneur/Teenpreneur Konference that teaches kids 7 to 17 about entrepreneurship, investing money and developing a business plan.

On a broader scale, there is the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship, or NFTE, a nationwide nonprofit based in New York that teaches kids in schools and community-based organizations how to breathe life into a business idea. Last month, the NFTE and investment bank Smith Barney sponsored a competition in which kids vied for the coveted title of best business plan. The grand prize: $10,000 to help launch the winning idea. The thought of becoming a real entrepreneur can be thrilling for kids accustomed to play money and only mimicking the ways of entrepreneurial parents. When it comes to actually launching their business or licensing their product, however, kids are forced to confront and master a whole set of obstacles, rules and responsibilities, including buying insurance and, yes, paying taxes.

Ms. Lawrence started out making hair oils for herself at age 11, after harsh products used at a salon caused her hair to fall out. Rather than risk a repeat of that experience, she began using natural ingredients like jojoba oil, sweet almond oil and lavender on her hair. She knew a little about natural products because her family uses them at home. That same year, she got involved in the NFTE at her school, learning how to write a business plan, meeting advisers from Merrill Lynch & Co., and learning how "to haggle," she says. The program inspired her to start selling her products. She got a $2,000 loan from her mother as start-up capital, to buy oils, plastic bottles and other materials. At first, she made just one product -- Jojoba All Natural Hair Oil, which she sold to friends. But eventually, friends of friends were asking for the product, and local stores, too.

Ms. Lawrence expanded her "factory" from her bedroom to the basement and garage. Now she makes seven products, including aromatherapeutic bath salts, and has the manufacturing down to a science -- lowering her production costs to 95 cents a bottle from $5. She made $10,000 in profit last year on $15,000 in revenue. Now she is getting ready to contract out production to a manufacturer, in preparation for selling her goods at Wal-Mart and other "large retailers," she says. A Wal-Mart spokesman confirmed that the company is in talks with Ms. Lawrence, but said there is no agreement yet. The Bentonville, Ark., company said it could begin working with Ms. Lawrence as early as next year. http://www.postgazette.com/pg/06317/738022-68.stm


http://www.edenbodyworks.com/servlet/StoreFront (check out her BBC story!)

....WOW.....I'm so proud of her....you go Jasmin, even though I'm older than her, she is inspiring me, I'm taking notes.

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just hope she's making to complete her homework assignments. lol. Kids these days - would do anything to get out of school work

LOL!