There are a few people here at Highlands who manage extracurricular activities and also manage a business. These kids are often interested in business, specifically in starting their own company. This is a brave undertaking for kids who have many daily tasks and scarce free time.
One student at Highlands had a bright idea to start a company, but he didn’t know what. He spent a long time carefully considering what he wanted for his company. After some time, he figured it out: SOJEA.
SOJEA is a student-run orange juice company. They don’t just sell orange juice, but they also sell shirts. This company is still fairly small; it is not like Target or any other big brands, local to Fort Thomas residents. This is a significant undertaking for a junior in high school.
“The reason I wanted to start the company was because when I went to Spain, I bought a $5000 commercial orange juice machine that they use,” Wade Fedders (11), Owner of SOJEA, said.
There is another thing that sets SOJEA apart from big companies with their added sugar and pasteurized oranges. What also makes them different is that Fedders’s secret ingredient lies in what he doesn’t add: oranges, only oranges. Furthermore, Fedders can deliver orange juice straight to any person in the Fort Thomas community.
“Yes, I am able to deliver my orange juice to the community, but I am not able to deliver anywhere else.”
Also, another thing that is better than Fedders’s competitors is that he writes Bible verses on every single bottle. It is also different from other brands because there is no other orange juice company that takes the time to appeal to the Christian audience.
“I write bible verses on every bottle just so I can glorify God and all that he has done.”
Along with all those great things about Fedders’s company, he has two friends, Will Henry (12) and Eli Hills (12). Both do photography and videography. That is beneficial because it helps promote the company and get people to see their company. During the picture process, it can be difficult to find the right angle of what Fedders would want his shirt to look like in that photo.
“It was great taking pictures for Wade. It was great to have that creative freedom with him,” Henry said.
With this creative freedom, there are other ways business owners can promote their business. In this day and age, there are many outlets to promote their business, like Instagram, TikTok, etc. With all these outlets to keep the viewer interested, the owner might need good photos or make a promotional video.
“Just doing the videos for Wade was great. He told me what he wanted in the video, and I was able to recreate that, which is just great,” Hills (12) said.
Fedders believes that he would like to continue with this business in the future. Also Henry and Hills would like to continue with their photography and video production, and hopefully, all three of them can make a good living out of this business.
The things that Fedders has already done are great because they will set him up for the real world. It will be interesting to see what Fedders does with his company in the future. Making smart choices with money and knowing where to spend and save will be good for years to come.
