Article: Kid Entrepreneur Examples: 12 Real Stories for Ages 5 to 13

Oct 27, 2026en

Kid Entrepreneur Examples: 12 Real Stories for Ages 5 to 13

The best kid entrepreneur examples share one thing: a child noticed something that bothered them or delighted them, and decided to do something about it. Below you will find real children who started businesses between the ages of 4 and 13, what each one made, which obstacles they hit, and how the adults around them helped without taking over. Use them as proof that it can be done, and as a starting point for the child in your life.

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TL;DR

Kid entrepreneurs range from neighborhood lemonade sellers to founders of patented products and statewide brands, and many began before age 8.
Most ideas came from a personal frustration, a family need or a passion, not from a business plan.
The common obstacles are being underestimated, paperwork and licensing, balancing school, and learning differences. Adults helped most by mentoring and handling the grown-up tasks while the child kept making the decisions.
You can start with almost no money by noticing a real problem, testing a small solution and taking one step at a time.

What a kid entrepreneur actually is
Kid entrepreneur examples ages 5 to 8
Kid entrepreneur examples ages 9 to 13
The examples at a glance
Where the ideas came from
The obstacles, and what helped
Our perspective: confidence comes before the business
Meet a young founder in person or on Zoom
How a child can start with little or no money
What children, parents and educators can take away
FAQ
Sources

What a kid entrepreneur actually is

A kid entrepreneur is a child who spots a need, solves a problem or follows a passion by starting a business. According to USA TODAY’s reporting on young founders, that can mean anything from a traditional neighborhood job to a large, scalable venture. You will also hear the word “kidpreneur” used for the same idea.

What matters is not the size of the business. It is the shift in identity: a child who sells one batch of cookies has moved from “someone who consumes” to “someone who creates and serves others.” That shift is exactly what we care about at Team Genius Squad, and it is why these stories belong on a STEAM site.

Kid entrepreneur examples ages 5 to 8

These children began young, usually with a family member beside them.

Mikaila Ulmer, lemonade. Mikaila began selling her great-grandmother’s lemonade outside her Austin, Texas, home in 2009, when she was four. By 2018 her company, Me & the Bees Lemonade, had reached a milestone of 360,000 bottles sold per year, according to the same BBC report.

Audrey Harrison, gourmet popcorn. Audrey launched her popcorn company at age five with her family. Her company partnered with a factory in 2022, and the popcorn is now sold in Texas airports.

Lily Born, the Kangaroo Cup. Imagiroo says Lily was seven when she conceived the Kangaroo Cup, and that by 16 she had sold tens of thousands worldwide. The cup was designed to help her grandpa drink without spilling. Its three-legged design is stable and tip-proof, and it stacks despite its handles. Lily’s account describes a child who identified a family problem, prototyped for several years and ended up with a cup ready for production.

Kamaria Warren, Brown Girls Stationery. Kamaria founded her company at age seven in McDonough, Georgia, to create diverse school supplies for girls of color.

Zoe Oli, Beautiful Curly Me. With her mother’s support, Zoe launched her doll company in 2019 at age seven to offer diverse dolls with textured hair. CNBC reported in 2024 that the business had reached six-figure revenue.

Paris Muhammad, Paris Place. Paris started her cosmetics company, Paris Place LLC, at age seven in Georgia, with products that include lip gloss. In 2021 she became the youngest-ever member of the Conyers-Rockdale Chamber of Commerce.

Ryan Hickman, recycling. Ryan began recycling at about age 3 after his father took him to a recycling center, and he launched Ryan’s Recycling Company at age 7. He told USA TODAY that supportive people helped him take “baby steps” and avoid discouragement, while his father handled taxes and money management and kept Ryan involved in the whole business.

Kid entrepreneur examples ages 9 to 13

Older children tend to bring more independence, and sometimes bigger ambitions.

The Gill brothers, handcrafted candles. Collin (13), Ryan (11) and Austin (8) started Frères Branchiaux in Indian Head, Maryland, to make and sell handcrafted candles. It is a good example of siblings splitting the work.

Asia Newson, Detroit candles. Asia faced skepticism as she grew older, including accusations that her sales were not legitimate and being removed by security guards from places where she sold. Forbes reported that her mother helped her get a business license and her father mentored her in selling candles, while Asia kept making the business decisions.

Adeliah Curry, goat-milk soap. At 10, Adeliah learned soap production through mentorship from a goat breeder and learned business fundamentals through 4-H. Her mother helped launch Kidz for Kids, LLC, and healthcare professionals helped identify children who could benefit from the venture’s donations, according to Simply Local Billings. This one shows a business built around giving.

Mikaila Ulmer, again, at 13. At 13 she was still running the company, and she told CNBC that being underestimated because of her age made investors and partners harder to approach. Balancing school, homework and sleepovers with company duties was another challenge.

Bella Lin, GuineaLoft. Bella’s first challenge was cleaning guinea-pig cages. She prototyped better cages on paper and in her backyard before launching GuineaLoft. A $10,000 pitching-competition prize let her buy an acrylic laser cutter, and CNBC reports the business employed six full-time workers.

Ava N. Simmons, our founder’s inspiration. Ava struggled with dyslexia and was bullied and teased because she could not read, Scholastic reports. Her mother, Tia, helped turn experiments into a learning and business project by filming Ava’s scripts and demonstrations at home, and the family converted their kitchen into a laboratory setting. Ava later had to balance school with building a company. Her story is why Team Genius Squad exists, and we tell more of it in our collection of young inventor stories.

The examples at a glance

Young founder	Business	Age at start
Mikaila Ulmer	Lemonade, Me & the Bees	4
Audrey Harrison	Gourmet popcorn	5
Lily Born	Kangaroo Cup (idea at age 7)	7
Kamaria Warren	Brown Girls Stationery	7
Zoe Oli	Beautiful Curly Me dolls	7
Paris Muhammad	Paris Place cosmetics	7
Ryan Hickman	Ryan’s Recycling Company	7
The Gill brothers	Handcrafted candles	8 to 13

Where the ideas came from

Look at the list and a pattern appears. Lily watched her grandpa struggle with a cup. Bella got tired of cleaning cages. Kamaria and Zoe could not find products that reflected them. Ryan loved the recycling center. Almost nobody started with “I want to be a CEO.”

That matches the advice from Arizona State University’s entrepreneurship team, who suggest children look to their passions, skills and needs for business ideas, then seek help with paperwork and constructive criticism. Carnegie Mellon professor Meredith Meyer Grelli makes a related point in USA TODAY: entrepreneurship takes resilience and curiosity, and adults can build both by encouraging children to investigate frustrations in their own lives as possible opportunities.

A simple way to try this at home or in a classroom: ask “What bugged you today?” and “What would you change about it?” Write down every answer, no matter how silly. Our PBL STEM activities follow the same logic, starting from a real problem and working toward a build.

Idea discovery path from frustration to build

The obstacles, and what helped

The stories are inspiring, but they are not smooth. Across the examples, the same hurdles keep returning:

Being underestimated. Mikaila and Asia both met doubt because of their age.
Legal and administrative barriers. Asia needed a business license. Mikaila had to rename her company after a trademark issue, and her mother described the change as emotionally difficult because Mikaila had grown attached to the name. Informal focus groups with classmates helped her choose a new one.
School balance. Mikaila and Ava both had to fit the business around homework.
Funding and production. Bella’s prize money solved a production bottleneck.
Learning differences and bullying. Ava’s experience with dyslexia is the clearest example.

What did the adults do? They mentored, encouraged, made introductions, handled licensing, taxes and money management, filmed and organized projects, and opened doors to programs and equipment. The best of them held back from deciding for the child. Mikaila’s parents required her to earn money through lemonade sales or chores, teaching her that results take work. Shopify’s guidance for parents says the same thing: let the idea come from the child and encourage them to make the key decisions.

Our perspective: confidence comes before the business

We started Team Genius Squad because of a real family journey with dyslexia and dysgraphia. We watched a child who was told, in many small ways, that she was behind, discover that she could run an experiment, explain it on camera and teach it to others. The business came after the belief.

That is why we do not think of kid entrepreneurship as a business-skills lesson first. We see it as an identity lesson. A child who has thought of herself as “the one who can’t read” needs a chance to be “the scientist,” “the inventor,” “the founder.” Lab coats, badges and certificates may look like play, and they are, but play is how children try on who they might become.

Our perspective: confidence comes before the business — overview diagram

Our E³ Method (Engage, Encourage, Empower) mirrors what the best kid entrepreneur stories show. First, something engages the child: a real experiment, a real problem. Then an adult encourages, with specific praise and patient help rather than rescue. Finally the child is empowered to own the result, share it and try again. Children who learn differently often have exactly the persistence and out-of-the-box thinking that entrepreneurship rewards, if the first step is hands-on and the pressure to read and write perfectly is lowered.

If you are a parent, grandparent, teacher or counselor, you do not need to launch a company with your child. You need to notice the spark and protect it.

— Tita

Meet a young founder in person or on Zoom

Sometimes a child needs to see a peer who has done it. Ava, our STEM ambassador, offers three interactive options: a 30-minute 1-on-1 Zoom STEM experiment for ages 5 to 13 at $50, a virtual group entrepreneurship experience at $550 and an in-person group STEM experience at $1,100. The group sessions suit classrooms, libraries, scout troops and school counselors’ programs. If you would rather start at home, our experiment kits give children a hands-on, screen-free first step.

How a child can start with little or no money

The most common question behind this search is how to begin without startup cash. The research and the stories point to a simple sequence.

Notice a real frustration or interest. Start with something the child already cares about, as the ASU guidance suggests.
Test a small solution. Ryan started locally and grew gradually. A trial batch, a sketch or a backyard prototype, as Bella made, costs almost nothing.
Ask for feedback. Neighbors, classmates and relatives are your first focus group. Mikaila used classmates to help pick a new name.
Let an adult handle the grown-up tasks. Taxes, licensing and money management belong to a parent or mentor, while the child stays involved in decisions.
Take one step at a time. Ryan credits “baby steps” for keeping him from being discouraged.

For a classroom version with ready-to-use steps, see our entrepreneurship activities playbook for ages 5 to 13. Before any child sells anything, check your state and city rules on minors selling goods, and ask a parent or guardian to look into licensing, as Asia’s mother did.

What children, parents and educators can take away

Children learn that a problem can be an opportunity. Shopify notes that running a small business teaches accountability for customers and finances, a stronger work ethic and confidence handling challenges.

Parents and grandparents can encourage the spark, help with paperwork and teach the child to learn from constructive criticism. Then step back.

Educators and counselors can use real stories to teach financial literacy and business concepts, the way the Biz Kid$ series uses young entrepreneurs’ stories for that purpose. For children who struggle in traditional settings, a build-and-sell project can reveal strengths a worksheet never will.

FAQ

How can a kid start a business with no money?

Start with a skill or a service rather than a product that needs materials: pet care, yard help or tutoring younger children. Test it with neighbors, and let a parent handle any licensing and money tasks. Ryan Hickman’s path shows a child can start locally and grow gradually.

What does “kidpreneur” mean?

It is a casual word for a child entrepreneur: a young person who starts a business to solve a problem or follow a passion. The business can be as small as a neighborhood stand or as large as a national brand.

How young can a child be to start a business?

The examples here began as early as age 4, with Mikaila Ulmer’s lemonade, and many at 5 to 7. At that age an adult always owns the legal and financial side, while the child brings the idea, the making and the selling.

What role should parents play?

Be a coach, not the CEO. Help with licenses, taxes and safety, make introductions and offer honest feedback, but let the child choose the product, the name and the key decisions wherever possible.