Seventeen-year-old Elisa Harley has had a whirlwind of a year. Television interviews, speaking engagements at events like E-Tipu BOMA, numerous meetings with lawyers, scientists, business mentors – the list goes on.
But in a recent interview her mind was also on the term ahead, NCEA exams, all seemingly normal things on a high schooler’s to-do list. She said she had a few grant applications she needed to get done and needed to prepare for a meeting with a scientist and lawyer later in the week – perhaps not so normal for a high schooler.
Harley is the founder and brain behind Enivo Pots, a solution she’s developing to solve the problem of the 350 million plastic plant trays and pots used every year in New Zealand.
Inspired by the opportunity to take part in the Lion Foundation Young Enterprise Scheme, Harley got thinking about what problems she saw that she could solve. An existing love of our native flora and fauna and a small business selling native plants connected her with local nurseries and she very quickly saw the problem she wanted to take on.
“I thought if I could find a biodegradable solution to plastic pots that might be worth looking into,” she said.
With support from the Young Enterprise scheme, AGMARDT funding and Scion, Harley got to work developing a prototype that uses waste from primary industry, primarily forestry, to make biodegradable pots. The pots, which last six months above ground and degrade within a year in the ground, are currently being tested in large-scale nurseries.
“The pressure of being in this entrepreneurial space has definitely been overwhelming at times. It went very quickly from an idea for the Young Enterprise scheme to something that’s starting to get legs of its own.”
The most challenging part for Harley was entering an industry with no experience commercialising a business. She has since had many opportunities to go out and understand the industry, and learn the ins and outs of building a business, and she feels more supported in this space.
“It’s a privilege to be learning what I am at my age. I can try things, make mistakes and learn from them for the future. I’m not making Enivo Pots for the success or profits, I’m aware it might not be [a money spinner], but the learnings I get from this will stay with me for life.”
She recounts the story of getting up early the morning after her school ball to send emails and look over business paperwork.
“I think anyone would have the odd moment of feeling like they are missing out on being a ‘normal’ high schooler. A lot of what that entails isn’t me anyway though. I still get to hang out with my friends and do all the things I want to do. My friends keep me grounded and ultimately, I’m still me. They allow me the space to not be in the business mindset 24/7.”
Harley knows all too well the ramifications of being in the business too much. Between her Enivo Pots, school and generally being a teenager, she placed a lot of pressure on herself to excel across the board in those early days and quickly found herself dealing with burnout.
“Navigating that was hard, getting my ‘circle’ around me was really crucial to coming through that. I was working so many hours trying to do it all myself. I really had to reprioritise what was important to me. I think burnout is something a lot of teens struggle with.”
Harley was overwhelmed by the willingness of people to help.
“I found that if you ask for help or even for a coffee to ask advice or something, no one has ever said no. People are always willing to help.”
Building a reliable and trustworthy team around her has been the key to kicking the business from an idea into reality. From her mentor through the Young Enterprise scheme she got connected with a co-founder of Sharesies, who is now her business mentor for the ‘big picture stuff’.
“I also have a personal mentor who helps look after me. She’s a young adult at my church who I really connected with, she helps me become the best version of me. Not the entrepreneur Elisa, but the Elisa who has a whole life and a different set of passions outside of business.
“My parents are involved with the legal side of things, school doesn’t yet teach us how to understand 25-page NDAs! Most importantly, my parents make sure I don’t over-commit at the sacrifice of my school work or wellbeing.”
Harley has been overrun with offers of help, grants and other support from people, but said the difficulty is not saying yes to everything, and learning to identify what opportunities are worthwhile. After all, this isn’t her full-time job.
Harley is driven in everything she does, she’s a firm believer in rejection being redirection and pushing herself to do the hard things in life, like taking a cold shower or a cold swim every morning. It started as something she did while on Spirit of Adventure but became a challenge she adopted at home, too.
“Before my day has even started I’ve done something hard and overcome it. The rest of the day, if something hard comes up, I know I can tackle it. It helps my mindset a lot.”
While her focus right now is on taking every opportunity that comes her way, Enivo Pots is not what she plans to spend the rest of her life doing. She is keeping her options open and on the lookout for other opportunities, like study, to continue developing herself and give her options in years to come.
“I want to live a purpose-driven life that pushes the boundaries and inspires other young girls to create a better future for the planet, themselves and the generations to come.”
More: The Farmers Weekly Rural Living series highlights the rich diversity of Aotearoa New Zealand’s rural communities, farming families and contributions to the food and fibre sector.
