Buddy the staffy cross is Ollie Jabs’s best mate and one of the reasons the 11-year-old has started a dog treat business in his regional community.
Key points:
- Ollie is 11 years old and was inspired by his dog and best mate Buddy to start a business
- He makes healthy dog treats with support from his family
- A regional entrepreneur centre says social enterprise businesses are a great way for young people to get started
After reading a book about investments, twice, the young Riverland entrepreneur identified a gap in the local market and started Buddy’s Bites.
“There were a couple of ideas in the book for businesses like washing cars, making clothes and then I thought of Buddy,” Ollie said.
“I started making dog treats for him [just to enjoy at home] and then other people wanted them.
“It went from Buddy to family and friends … to a business.”
Family affair
Ollie’s mum Ally Beth sourced the dog treat recipe and said supporting her young son’s business idea was a “no-brainer”.
“We train Buddy to do lots of cool tricks so he does eat a lot of treats,” she said.
“For me, I thought if he was eating so many, it’s important to make sure they were healthy treats.
“Once Ollie shared them with friends and family, then they started talking to their friends and it just went gangbusters.”
Ollie was overwhelmed with orders after sharing his business in a local buy, swap, sell group, but Ms Beth said it was heartwarming to see support from their wider community.
“I put it up a couple of weekends ago and that’s when it really went off,” she said.
“Maybe it could be a future career for Ollie.”
The young entrepreneur said his recipe was a trade secret, but revealed flax mill and pumpkin were two of the key ingredients.
“When you mix it all up, it turns into dough and then you roll it out and we cut it with a bone-shaped cookie cutter,” Ollie said.
“Then my sister Claudia helps with stamping the ‘BBs’ on the end of each biscuit. She’s really quick.”
Bright ideas need support
Australian Centre for Rural Entrepreneurship chief executive Matt Pfahlert said it was vital young regionally based people like Ollie were supported in an educational setting.
Mr Pfahlert says a large gap exists between a young person having a bright idea and being supported in their education to start their own enterprise.
“We’re really good at numeracy and literacy and we start that at the earliest point in time and we build on those foundational skills right throughout their school lives,” he said.
“But, we don’t do that with the skills related to entrepreneurship or enterprise education.”
Mr Pfahlert says social enterprise businesses that aim to solve a problem in the community or environment are a great opportunity for younger entrepreneurs to get started.
“Social enterprise is that lovely double opportunity where young people are learning those skills of how to be entrepreneurial … but also they’re contributing to issues they care about.”
