Mikaila Ulmer is a 12-year-old girl with a lemonade business, and it’s a whole lot bigger than a neighborhood lemonade stand.
Ulmer started selling lemonade sweetened with honey after her great-grandmother gave her a family recipe from the 1940s, and it proved so popular that she got deals to sell it at several stores. Now a number of NFL players have decided to invest.
Former and current NFL players Arian Foster, Glover Quin, Duane Brown, Jonathan Grimes, Omar Bolden, Bobby Wagner, Darius Slay, Sharrick McManis, EJ Manuel and Malik Jackson have combined to put up $810,000 to back Ulmer’s business.
Foster told the Houston Chronicle the group of players was looking for an investment opportunity that could help a promising entrepreneur like Ulmer, and help a good cause, as Ulmer is invested in fighting colony collapse disorder, which has devastated bee populations.
“Of course, any time you invest in anything you look at if it’s going to be profitable,” Foster said. “We look for companies that match our main focus of developing a good product, but are also good people and do it for the right reasons. It’s more than about money to us. We believe that investing in small black businesses is extremely important.”
With NFL money and a family recipe, Me & The Bees Lemonade plans to get a whole lot bigger.