Young entrepreneurs sell their creations at The Bazaar

Safiya Tine has gotten off to an early start in the business world.

“It feels really nice to only be 11 and already be selling my paintings. I feel really lucky for that,” she said. 

Tine, who makes sculptures of dogs in addition to her paintings that feature positive images and often messages, says she wants to obtain a scholarship to Ringling College of Art and Design.

Her business, Artsy Fartsy by Safiya — alongside her sister Jarrah's business, Bella's Dog Bandanas — was one of the businesses found at the Young Entrepreneur Market, held April 5 at The Bazaar on Apricot & Lime.

The event brought together entrepreneurs from ages 8 to 17, amid live music by students from Music Compound. 

Resourceful concepts

Entrepreneurs showcased a variety of creations. 

Lanie Fineman and Sophie Huralde, who are both 17, showed the potential of an idea. 

They created their business, Positively Sweet, through the Perlman Price Young Entrepreneurs Program at the Boys & Girls Club, winning a pitch competition.

Positively Sweet, abbreviated as P.S., doubles in meaning as "postscript." Each of the boards, jars and bags of sweets feature a short, positive message, with customizable messages available. 

“If it's your friend's birthday, it could be P.S., happy birthday, like, I'm so happy to have you as a friend,” Huralde said.

During their time with the program, they worked through lessons that included picking a business plan, mission statement and vision statement, and performing demographics and market research. 

They also could meet with local entrepreneurs and learn about their experiences.

“It was very informative all throughout the process,” said Huralde.

Since August, they've been selling their products, mainly through Instagram and word of mouth, but were glad to have the chance to attend the market and face the public. 

“I would say overall, we've had a very positive response on a lot of our products," Fineman said. "Like, they've been very well received, and we've been really happy with some of the events we've been able to do them for."

Brody Noble, 13, Brody's Pictures and Paintings, started his business in his backyard. 

He spray paints two colors onto a blank canvas, dabbing them with paper to blend them together. Then, covering up part of the paper with a cup, he spray paints the paper black, and shakes a glove over it to spatter it with white paint. 

The result is an outer space scene featuring a planet and stars.

“I just saw this thing on online, and I thought it looked easy to make, so I just started spray painting and experimenting, and they ended up looking pretty good," he said. "So I said, 'Oh, I should probably sell these. And I just started taking pictures as well.”

He gets his photos mainly from places he sees while fishing.

“I'm always by the water, and when it's sunset, it's always so pretty here in Florida, so they're all just so pretty," he said. 

He said he was glad to get out and showcase his artwork.

“It feels amazing because I'm just expressing my art to the public, and it feels really good," he said. 

Oliver Nowakowski and Ozan Pollack, both 13, created a business based on something they had in common — the ownership of 3D printers. 

Nowakowski said just a few months ago, they both had minimal business skills.

“It was a pretty simple process to learn how to set all this up, get it running, put it together, so I think anyone should, if they have an idea... take some time learn how to invest their resources properly," he said.

Pollack said Nowakowski came to him with news of the market about two weeks ago. 

They spent a couple of days finding the right models to print and paying licensing fees and then kept the printers running about 24 hours a day to keep up with the expected demand.

They also create some of their own designs as well. 

They said attendees at the market were eager to buy their products, including dragons and travel tic-tac-toe boards. 

“Both my parents and his parents are very invested in this," said Pollack. "They feel like this is a great business concept... We brought the machine to draw more customers, and it's worked, because they all came to see what's going on, and they think it's really cool, and they usually they end up buying something."

Layla Ahlbom, a 10th grader in the Visual and Performing Arts program at Booker High, is hoping to attend Ringling College, and had the chance to showcase some of her work.

She says she thinks the stimulating experience of seeing colors organized in a particular way is what draws her to art, and in the future hopes to pursue wedding planning and designing. 

"I love talking with the people. It's like my favorite part about my job," she said. "I like to communicate with everybody and see what they think, what's popular, what's not."

It was during an event in middle school that she started selling her artwork, and she never stopped.

"I would just say, start small, think big about it," she said. "Always have too much and just kind of always save up your stuff over time. Keep the ones that are valuable, but sell everything else."