Five young entrepreneurs, known as the Tea Girls, are operating a social enterprise in Halifax.
The 11 and 12-year-olds have opened a business out of Hope Blooms, an organization that engages youth in Halifax’s North End about education, social inclusion and disrupting the cycle of poverty.
The Tea Girls say they are hoping to give back to their community in a big way and encourage others to do the same.
Jasaya Stephenson, Akiyrah Stevenson, Arionne Dixon-Farmer, London Goree and Bianca Tynes make up the group.
“A lot of people see us as just cute little children but when you change the way you look at us, you see very social entrepreneurs working very hard to make kids’ dreams come true and build the community and the world to be a better place for us to grow up in,” said Stevenson.
The Tea Girls sell two different types of tea and 100 per cent of their proceeds will be put back into their community.
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The tea types that they offer are ‘Happy Hibiscus’ and ‘Magic Matcha.’
“We get hibiscus tea from Africa, Senegal. And we get the dried blueberries in the tea from Nova Scotia organics,” said Stephenson.
The group is currently working toward raising funds to build a music studio in their community. The studio will be equipped with instruments and recording gear.
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The Tea Girls, along with 100 other youth, learn about entrepreneurship and work together to help solve social issues within their community. Since taking part in Hope Blooms, they say they have learned a lot about themselves.
“I learned that I could do a lot more than I thought I could. I feel like I can be a lot more of myself.” said Stevenson.
“When I grow up, I want to teach other people to become leaders and to start their own business and to become better people,” said Dixon-Farmer.
The group will be raising money for the music studio with another social enterprise group, The Hot Cocoa Boys.
People interested in purchasing their tea and learning more about the initiatives at Hope Blooms can check out the website: http://www.hopeblooms.ca
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