Start your own ice cream company because you still want to earn some pocket money. Young entrepreneurs Britt (12) and Jill (10) made it happen with their own ice cream truck. Omroep Brabant spoke more of this type of young boss. From renting out laser guns to building websites. But how are they doing now that the company has been around longer?
“It has gotten a bit out of hand,” Justin van Dongen (20) says with a laugh. He started building websites at the age of thirteen, and officially started building websites when he was sixteen with his company JKC Media. The company has now grown to ten employees who are employed by him. “I find that responsibility exciting.”
“My friends can go out on a Thursday night, but then I’ll drop out.”
Justin has also started his part-time education at HBO since this year for only one afternoon and one evening a week. This gives him enough time for his own business. There is therefore no real student life for Justin. “My friends then go out on Thursday evening, but then I drop out unfortunately. I have to get up in time for the office again,” says the student. Still, he’s glad he made the decision. “But if I had been a real full-time student, I would have loved that too.”
“The gun factor really contributed to the success.”
The fact that Justin started so early has advantages and disadvantages for the company. “I had a mega good factor with large companies because I was still so young. That really contributed to the success of the company,” explains the now twenty-year-old. “On the other hand, sometimes I am still not taken seriously because of this. At first I found it quite difficult to approach large companies.”
Mats Donkers (12) from Breda also started at a young age and still has his own company. When he was ten he decided to rent out laser tag guns. Now he rents out even more guns than he did two years ago. Mats’s friends also think this is something. “They think it’s really cool. We also play with it a lot ourselves or they hold a children’s party with laser gaming”, says Mats proudly.
“I still want to be an architect in the future.”
Mats finds the company easy to combine with school and friends, but sometimes he has to miss things. “My friends are playing outside and I am cleaning the laser guns, which I find very unfortunate.” But with a little good planning, Mats manages to combine his business and school. He will therefore continue to do so, but also has other ambitions. “I really enjoy laser tag, but I still want to be an architect when I grow up.”
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