It's never too early for entrepreneurship, and in this panel, two young business owners dive into how they have established their operations and offer tips. Additionally, they will discuss how their parents, mentors and community helped lay the foundation for their business success and aspirations to grace the future cover of Forbes.
Caden Harris, CEO, Caden Teaches Zoe Oli, CEO, Beautiful Curly Me
Moderator: Mike Federle, CEO, Forbes
Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.
Caden Harris, CEO, Caden Teaches Zoe Oli, CEO, Beautiful Curly Me
Moderator: Mike Federle, CEO, Forbes
Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Now, for a fun lightning round CEO conversation,
00:04please welcome moderator Mike Federle, CEO Forbes,
00:08and his panelists, Caden Harris, CEO Caden Teaches,
00:12and Zoe Oli, CEO Beautiful Curly Me.
00:16Give it up for these guys.
00:18There you go.
00:19This is great.
00:26I love this session.
00:27Who is the next tycoon?
00:29And in my role as CEO of Forbes,
00:32I get to meet a lot of entrepreneurs over the years
00:35and get to interview them, meet them at different events.
00:39And when I was asked,
00:42would you like to interview two entrepreneurs
00:45when we're at Forbes BLK,
00:47I assumed they were 25, 30, maybe even 40, who knows.
00:53And when I met these two, I was just blown away.
00:58And as a look into the future, I'd say our future is good.
01:03So let me do brief introductions
01:05and then I'm gonna really get to questions for you guys.
01:08Caden Harris here is CEO of Caden Teaches,
01:12started his first company at the age of seven,
01:15wrote a book at the age of eight,
01:17and he graduated high school at?
01:1913.
01:2013, come on.
01:21And Zoe Oli, CEO of Beautiful Curly Me,
01:30founded her company five years ago,
01:32which I think would put you at seven years old as well,
01:35author of several children's books
01:38and the youngest black TEDx speaker.
01:42And both are Atlanta's own too.
01:47So this is really a great tribute to the city here,
01:50I think as well.
01:52So why don't we start with Zoe,
01:54let me ask you the question,
01:56because I get asked all the time from young, under 30s,
02:02about how do I start a company?
02:05How, you know, I wanna be an entrepreneur,
02:07but like, how do you begin?
02:08So tell us your origin story,
02:10your beginning of your company.
02:12So, girls' confidence drops by 30% by age eight.
02:18When I was six years old, I did not like my hair,
02:21and I wished it was straight like my classmates.
02:24And this is not just me,
02:25there's so many other girls
02:26who are not confident in themselves.
02:29My mom got me a black doll that looked like me to help,
02:32and it really did,
02:34but I noticed that the doll did not have hair
02:36that looked like mine,
02:38and I wanted dolls with pink hair,
02:40that looked like mine.
02:41And I wanted dolls with curls and braids.
02:43So when she went back to the stores, couldn't find any,
02:47I decided that I wanted to make my own business
02:50and do something about it.
02:52And that's how I got started.
02:53That's how you got started?
02:54Yes.
02:56And Kayden, your story,
02:58how'd you start at seven years old?
03:00I was barely reading or walking or whatever.
03:05What were you doing at seven that made you start a company?
03:08Well, I would always go to business meetings
03:11with my dad,
03:11and at that point I didn't understand
03:12what financial literacy was,
03:14and I would always hear them talking about it.
03:16So I decided to take it upon myself and learn about it
03:19so that I could teach it to kids
03:21in a way that they could understand.
03:23And I really didn't think that my journey
03:24would lead me to this point,
03:26sitting down on a Forbes stage,
03:28speaking to the CEO.
03:29I mean, life is awesome.
03:31And when I say that,
03:34I really do mean it,
03:36because I actually had a speech impediment
03:38until the age of five,
03:39so I couldn't speak until I was five years old.
03:42So I would leave off the beginning
03:44and end off with words.
03:45And I had to go through years of speech therapy
03:48to eventually prevail and be able to take grand stages,
03:51like being here at Forbes,
03:53the Disney Dreamers Academy,
03:55and I recently even spoke at the White House.
03:57Oh my.
03:58I don't know what you're feeding the kids
04:04down here in Atlanta,
04:05but now you spoke at the White House,
04:09and I believe, Zoe,
04:10you just met Kamala Harris, our vice president.
04:13You guys are way beyond.
04:15This is incredible.
04:17But tell me,
04:18tell us a little bit about financial literacy
04:21is what your mission is around.
04:24So tell us how you're going
04:26about teaching financial literacy
04:28and who you're teaching it to.
04:30Well, I have my financial bus,
04:32which has a mock bank, mock grocery store,
04:34and mock stock exchange.
04:36So it teaches kids how to earn, save,
04:38budget, and invest in a fun and interactive way.
04:42So at the mock bank,
04:43they're able to learn how to deposit
04:45and withdraw their money.
04:46At the mock grocery store,
04:47they're able to learn how to have a family budget
04:50and what their parents go through at the store
04:52so they're not just taking stuff off the shelves
04:54and throwing it in the cart.
04:56The mock stock exchange,
04:57so that they can learn how to invest in stocks
05:00and how great of an investment it really can be.
05:02And my curriculum, which I have,
05:05it teaches kids everything they need to know
05:08before they graduate high school.
05:09It's a middle school curriculum.
05:11So I'm looking to create a K through 12 curriculum
05:14and implement it into schools all around the world
05:16and even translate it so that kids all over the world
05:19can learn about financial literacy.
05:23Very cool.
05:26And I should tell you,
05:27I asked both Zoe and Caden backstage,
05:31you know, these are really nice stories,
05:33but are your companies, do you make money?
05:36They both looked at me disdainfully,
05:38like, of course we make money, this is what it's about.
05:41So Zoe, tell us exactly how you are making money.
05:47What is your business?
05:49So my company, Beautiful Curly Me,
05:51is a brand on a mission to inspire confidence
05:54in young black and brown girls.
05:56And we do this through a line of beautiful black dolls.
06:00I have written books and we also have puzzles.
06:03And for every doll that is bought on my website,
06:05I give one to a young girl in need
06:07because I do not want any other girl
06:09to feel the way I felt.
06:11Seven out of 10 girls do not believe
06:13that they are good enough.
06:14And that to me is unacceptable.
06:17So I am working to change that.
06:20Wow.
06:20Wow.
06:21Wow.
06:22Wow.
06:23Wow.
06:24Wow.
06:25Wow.
06:25Wow.
06:26Wow.
06:27Wow.
06:28Wow.
06:29Wow.
06:30Wow.
06:30Wow.
06:31Wow.
06:32Wow.
06:33Wow.
06:34Wow.
06:35I lose my last life.
06:37And almost a whole life.
06:38But what do you think about in the future?
06:40What are the goals that you set for yourself?
06:43Zoe, why don't you start us out?
06:45And then Kaden, how do you set goals
06:47at such an early age to look five years down the road?
06:51So in the next five years,
06:53I want to positively impact the lives of a million girls.
06:57And I want to do this through expanding my product line
07:01to include more books and dolls,
07:04expanding my social impact to reach more girls globally,
07:08and I am working on speaking as well as launching in retail
07:13and a girls' confidence course
07:15and a girls' empowerment club
07:17that's going to be reaching schools soon.
07:19So yeah.
07:20And my future goal is to teach over 500,000 kids
07:27about financial literacy,
07:29and I'm going to do that with the financial curriculum
07:32because, of course, I can't be everywhere at once,
07:35but the curriculum can.
07:37So just implementing that into more schools,
07:40and that's one of my biggest plans for the future.
07:42And also reaching different corporate partners
07:45because I was able to start this journey
07:47with a $200 investment and turn it into a six-figure,
07:51and turn it into a six-figure business.
07:53So who knows what I'll be able to do
07:54with an investment from a company like Coca-Cola
07:58or Home Depot, all companies here in Atlanta.
08:02All right.
08:02These two are going places, I can tell.
08:05Now, you know, this morning we heard Neal and Youngblood
08:09talk about how he came from a large family.
08:12They didn't have a lot of money,
08:13but his parents taught him the most important lesson,
08:16that they loved him and taught how to love
08:19and also how to believe that you could do anything.
08:24And I was able to meet your parents,
08:27and I was able to meet your parents,
08:30and I was able to meet your parents backstage,
08:33your mother, your dad, and mom.
08:35And what influence or how much was your family involved
08:40in the development, or did you just say at six and a half?
08:45I'm leaving, I'm going to start my own company.
08:49Well, my dad was, my parents overall have been,
08:53all have been helping me along this journey
08:55this entire time.
08:57As I said, I got started with a $200 investment from my dad
09:00and I would go to all these different business meetings
09:03and he would always be the one to push me
09:05to go the extra mile.
09:06And my mom was always one of the creative geniuses
09:09behind it.
09:10She would always come up with these awesome ideas.
09:13And my dad, he's been my business manager,
09:15and we have a running joke that he's the business manager
09:18who can never be fired.
09:19And my sister, she owns her own business,
09:23her own health and wellness company,
09:25where she has her own affirmation cards,
09:28vitamins, and seasonings as well.
09:30So she's also been a help just getting her input as well,
09:34and she helps out where she can.
09:38It sounds like an investment in the whole family
09:41is what we should be making here.
09:42This is great.
09:43Zoe?
09:45My mom has definitely been so instrumental
09:48to the growth of my company.
09:50I mean, from day one, even though it took her a while
09:53to believe I was serious about starting a company at six,
09:57but she really helped me so much.
10:00She pushed me, even when I'm at school
10:02or when I'm doing other things, she's always helping out.
10:06And really, she's just been my rock
10:08and really so amazing during the whole experience.
10:16How do you, we heard in the Barbie panel
10:20about you can't only make a product,
10:22you got to market it and sell it.
10:24How did you guys, how do you market and sell your product?
10:28I mean, that's, a lot of experience
10:32goes into a lot of marketing in a lot of places.
10:34So I'm curious, at such a young age, how you do that.
10:37Well, one of the biggest ways I've been able
10:39to market my business is from media exposure.
10:42I've been featured on every single local news channel
10:45here in Atlanta.
10:46I've been on Good Morning America, The Today Show.
10:50So that's been one of the biggest things,
10:52is just media coverage, because that drives a lot of people
10:55to my website and to book me for speaking,
10:57because a lot of events that I have had recently
11:01have come from Good Morning America.
11:04Media coverage, here we go.
11:09I definitely agree, media coverage
11:11has been great for me as well.
11:14Just word of mouth, email marketing,
11:16social media has been big.
11:18And just whenever I speak,
11:20I think a lot of things come from that.
11:22I gave a TEDx talk when I was 10, and that really helped.
11:26So just media, but also social media and word of mouth, yeah.
11:31And one other thing we're looking
11:32to implement in my company is SEO,
11:34which is search engine optimization,
11:36so that when you type in Kaden Harris,
11:39or Kaden teaches a rich kid, you instantly see me.
11:42That's up.
11:45That's great.
11:47Zoe, when we talk about sales and marketing,
11:51you whispered something backstage.
11:52I don't know if you're willing to share it here,
11:55but when you talk about sales, is that okay?
12:01I'm talking about your retail deal.
12:03Oh, yes.
12:04Oh, yes.
12:05I mean, if you all can keep a secret,
12:09I am actually launching in retail next month in Target.
12:15Yes.
12:21Both these folks are humble
12:24and very wonderful young people.
12:29And, you know, Target's that little small retailer
12:33you guys have heard of, right?
12:34That's such an accomplishment.
12:36That's incredible, I think.
12:38Hey, another thing I'm curious about,
12:41Hey, another thing I'm curious about,
12:44because I manage a lot of people,
12:45and people ask me, oh, as CEO,
12:47what's the hardest thing you do?
12:49And it's always people.
12:50Or the toughest problems you have, it's always people.
12:54When you have hundreds of people,
12:56it gets exponentially complicated and tough.
12:59But you manage older people in this case.
13:04Zoe, I know you're managing a lot of older people.
13:07Older, like even older than 20.
13:11So, how do you do that at such a young age?
13:14Or how do you get the most out of people?
13:18At first, it was definitely intimidating
13:21sitting on a call with all these adults.
13:24But I think just having confidence in myself
13:28and remembering that I am the CEO, I did earn this.
13:31And all of my team,
13:36all of my team have been super supportive
13:39and instrumental during my journey.
13:41And it has been very, very lonely
13:43just being an entrepreneur.
13:44I'm sure there are entrepreneurs in the audience.
13:47That's part of the reason why I started You've Made Business,
13:50which is a growth accelerator for young entrepreneurs
13:53ages 11 to 17.
13:56Caden here was actually part of our first cohort.
13:59So, we are helping kids that already have businesses
14:02to scale them by giving them access
14:05to community content and capital.
14:08Caden, we're out of time, but I'll give you the last word.
14:11How do you work with older people
14:14or motivate older people?
14:15Well, my dad always gave me the confidence to be who I am
14:20and to take grand stages,
14:22even with people that are older than me.
14:25He tells me that I belong in every room I go in,
14:27no matter who's in there, the celebrities,
14:30or the great business people that may be in there,
14:33that I belong there.
14:34So, I've been able to help people
14:36by teaching them about financial literacy,
14:38teaching their kids about financial literacy.
14:40So, I've always been confident in what it is that I do.
14:43With that, I will say, I think our future is in good hands.
14:48So, thank you very much and thanks, guys.
14:51You're really impressive.
14:52And remember, if Caden can, you can too.
14:56If Caden can, you can too.
15:06Thank you.