Students not LYTE on good ideas
As part of the 2025 Young Enterprise Scheme, students Ella Laming, Briar Allan, Georgia Smith, Georgia Greenslade and Ruby Laming have launched their start-up business LYTE Hydration.
Their product is a dual purpose, single-use energy sachet that combines pre-workout and electrolyte formulas.
Chief executive Ella said the special twist with their product was that it is mixed with barberry powder, a natural ingredient scientifically proven to help with acne.
"When you work out, you sweat, and that leads to bacteria on your face.
"It all goes hand-in-hand, you are recovering back the hydration you lost exercising while also helping with that acne side of things.
"It's something you can use on the go, it's portable, easy to use and you literally just rip it open and pour it in your water bottle."
The group wanted to make something innovative and creative, Ella said.
"We received guidance from Regan Powell, the Young Enterprise co-ordinator and he helped us with the idea for barberry powder as a way of adding something a bit different into our mix."
Chief financial officer Georgia Smith said the reason they decided to go for a hydration product was that they were all involved in sport.
"We found it annoying ourselves that when you go to the gym you have to get separate tubs for pre and post-workout.
"It was like, why can't we come up with a convenient option that can serve for pre and post-workout in just one session, one product.
"A lot of our generation go to the gym and are involved in sport and with a teenager target market, acne is a thing everyone struggles with. Our product serves to help with that."
The scheme required each company to complete four different challenges and yesterday the students took part in challenge two, the pitch, where they had to present their business plan to a panel of professionals.
Over the next two terms they will complete challenge three, promotions and sales, then challenge four, the annual review.
They had also recently just completed their first production batch of 40 sachets, Ella said.
"We're going to sell them first to the school to get feedback. We plan to then stretch out to the community after this first lot of selling.
"We've had to do all the labour ourselves so far, which is fine for a startup but it is time-consuming.
"We'd love to look at getting it manufactured if we are successful. We did look at it for a start but the cost was way too much."
Marketing and sales director Georgia Greenslade said they were also doing it as part of a school subject.
"I feel like the the reason a lot of us took this class is because there were so many specific roles. I took it because I'm interested in accounting and finance.
"We can specialise but also be involved with everything within the business, so you kind of learn everyone's part plus the thing you're passionate about which is something I've really enjoyed about it."
Ella said the group had learned a lot about teamwork and collaboration through creating their product and business.
"Also to cater to everyone's strengths and work in a way where everyone feels that they can contribute, feel heard and be part of the process.
"We also learnt that mistakes are part of the process, It's how a business forms — everyone makes them and you just have to learn from them.
"How you bounce back from the mistake is how you measure your success as a business."
They are aiming to sell their product for $7.99 and are looking to introduce several different flavours.
Anyone wishing to learn more or follow their progress can do so by visiting LYTE. hydration on Facebook or Instagram.
connor.haley@timarucourier.co.nz
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