Kai Jiwa is only 10-years-old and has started his own business selling bananas with a twist.
You can find Jiwa at the Elora Farmers’ Market where he sells bananas stuffed with Nutella, peanut butter and other rotating flavours. It’s called Go Stuff It!
This isn’t Jiwa’s first entrepreneurial venture. Last year he started Snack Shack where he sold snacks during recess and raised $250 for the Canadian-Ukraine Foundation, which delivers assistance programs and humanitarian aid by Canadians directed to Ukraine. This year, he and his team from Wellington Hall Academy in Guelph raised over $2,000 for Hope House’s Coldest Night of the Year.
He enjoyed the business aspect of selling snacks and it prompted him to start Go Stuff It!
“I want to just try to have some fun here. Make a bit of money,” said Jiwa.
He saw an ad for the Banana Loca, a product featured on Shark Tank, the American version of Dragon’s Den. The kitchen gadget straightens the banana, takes out the core and plunges in Nutella creating a sweet treat, and bought it.
It took Jiwa a couple of months to start his table at the Elora Farmers’ Market. Saturday was his second time setting up there. He created the sign with the Go Stuff It! logo himself. He took a food handlers course so all his ducks were in a row.
He’s been giving out free samples so people could have a taste before they buy one. Jiwa mentioned one person accidentally ate a sample with the banana peel still on. The banana peel is left on so it’s less messy and portable. People can peel it as they eat it.
The business is his way of earning money before he’s able to get a job when he’s in high school. With the money he saves, he wants to buy his first car and to start another business.
A sports car called the Koenigsegg Jesko is Jiwa’s dream car. “That brand has the world record for fastest, fastest, fastest acceleration. It's very unrealistic. It’s eight million bucks,” he said.
The more realistic option he’s saving for is a Nissan 350z.
Jiwa is in elementary school but already has an idea about what he wants to do post-secondary. He wants to be a mechanic and blend his love for cars and business together. His dream job is to work with electric supercars since he knows Canada plans to ban new gas-powered cars by 2035.
His cousin inspires him since he’s also entrepreneurial-minded and when he was 16-years-old, he started a shoe reseller business.
His parents Ashifa Jiwa and Jennifer Edwards are proud he came up with the idea for Elora Farmers’ Market. Every week they would hear a couple different business ideas he has thought of.
“He’s really done the work. You know, it wasn't just an idea that he expected us to do the work like he owned it,” said Ashifa.
Jiwa created a spreadsheet to record his expenses and income.
As the weeks go on he wants to try out different flavours for the bananas like rhubarb, strawberry and marshmallow.
His advice for people his age who want to start a business is “believe you can do it.”
“It might feel unrealistic. That's what I thought,” he said. He thought it was just a dream but he did research, applied himself and now he’s here at the booth.
You can find him at the Go Stuff It! table at the Elora Farmers’ Market on Saturdays from July 6 onward.
