HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lemonade Day named its National Youth Entrepreneur of the Year and runners-up at its ninth annual City Directors Conference in Houston Sept. 25-27. Fifth-grader Saanvi Vinod, who is home-schooled and attends a cottage school once a week at Highlands Latin School, is the 2019 National Youth Entrepreneur of the Year. She participates in the Lemonade Day program in Louisville.
First runner-up is third grader Aleese Haile of Wichita Falls/Iowa Park, Texas, owner of LeeCee’s Pink Lemonade. Second runner-up is 14-year-old Rebekkah Kuhn of Lubbock, Texas, owner of R&A Lemonade.
“It’s tough to select a handful of young entrepreneurs for these awards,” said Steven Gordon, Lemonade Day National President. “Over 55,000 youth participated in Lemonade Day in 2019.”
More than one million children and thousands of adult mentors have participated in Lemonade Day since the program was founded in Houston in 2007. Lemonade Day teaches kids business and character-building skills by encouraging them to launch a lemonade business in their community. The program operates in 80 licensed markets in the United States, Canada, and six U.S. military bases. Registration for the program is free. For information and to access an expanded version of this news release, please visit lemonadeday.org.
About the Honorees
This is the second year Saanvi Vinod participated in Lemonade Day with her A Lemon A Day stand. Saanvi enlisted her mom as her mentor and her dad as her initial investor. Saanvi wanted to present a more professional approach to her lemonade stand and gained approval to set up her stand in a local mall. Saanvi chose St. Jude Children Research Hospital’s skin cancer division to receive some of the proceeds from her sales.
1st Runner-up – LeeCee’s Pink Lemonade: Third grader Aleese Haile generated more than $660 profit, 50% of which she shared with her employees, and donated some of her remaining profit to Emily’s Legacy Rescue. Aleese’s stand was set up at Petco, and the rescue organization brought adoptable animals which increased traffic to her stand.
2nd Runner-up – R & A Lemonade: Fifth grader Rebekkah Kuhn earned a profit of $932, exceeding her goal of $250. After saving $75, Rebekkah shared $150 with a local animal rescue.
