A Budding Bio Entrepreneur Makes Nutritional Gummies for Teens

High school students love a good passion project – and often, what begins in the classroom launches into the business world. This month’s Future of the Business World podcast guest is poised to explore the market for her IB school project during her time in Wharton Global Youth’s Essentials of Entrepreneurship program this summer.

Valentina Mariuzza, a high school student from Italy who studies in Barcelona, Spain, created a line of five supplemental gummies with vitamins and minerals to address specific areas of health and wellness for teenagers. In this conversation with Wharton Global Youth, she details the development of her product, from formulation to packaging to regulatory approvals. What’s next? Like any good entrepreneur, she’s ready to learn.

Be sure to click the arrow above to listen to the podcast. An edited transcript of the conversation appears below.

Wharton Global Youth Program: Welcome to Future of the Business World. I’m Diana Drake with the Wharton Global Youth Program at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

The process of developing a new product to take to market can be both exciting and exasperating. You begin with the seed of an idea, and then you research, test and test some more. We’ve had some fun conversations with previous future of the business world podcast guests about the innovation around new foods and beverages. I’m remembering Alana Andrews, who began developing a healthier sports drink while she was in high school and spent hours in the kitchen, mixing up prototypes out of organic honey powder and Apple powder that she bought on Amazon. A few months back we spoke with high school entrepreneur Danielle Buchanan, who talked about the challenge of getting her colorful cakepops to stay on their sticks.

Today’s guest has spent hours in prototype testing, and I’m happy to say that Valentina Mariuzza is our shows very first ‘gummy entrepreneur’ and teen innovator from Italy. Valentina, welcome to Future of the Business World!

Valentina Mariuzza: Thank you so much. I’m so interested in talking about my project.

Wharton Global Youth: Excellent. So first, tell us about yourself. Where do you live and go to school?

Valentina: I currently live in Barcelona, [Spain] and study in Agora Sant Cugat International School, surrounded by different cultures from all over the world.

Wharton Global Youth: You are a self-described Hispanic bio entrepreneur formulating nutritional gummy supplements for teens? If that’s not a conversation starter, I don’t know what is. First, how do you describe a bio entrepreneur?

Valentina: A bio entrepreneur is what describes myself. Basically, I’m an entrepreneur who works in the field of biology, technology and chemistry, combining scientific knowledge with business awareness to develop and commercialize products and services based on biological discoveries. It involves identifying opportunities within the biotech or life sciences industry, conducting research and development. And finally, commercializing products or services that have a positive impact on society.

Wharton Global Youth: Your business actually began as a school project. What are these student projects about and meant to achieve?

Valentina: During my final year in the Middle Years Program (MYP), a component of the International Baccalaureate curriculum, all my colleagues and I had to undertake a personal project, which served as a culmination of our learning experience, and it was an opportunity to explore deeper into an area of personal interest. The MYP personal project is structured to encompass three different components: the process, the product, and the reflective report. Through the process, I recommended my ideas, criteria, developments, challenges, research findings and progress reports. This phase allowed me to exercise crucial skills, such as self-management, research, innovation, communication, critical thinking and collaboration. Well, all the ATL [Approaches to Learning] skills. And the product was the tangible result of my efforts. I created a line of five nutritional gummy supplements designed to meet the specific needs of teenagers. And finally, the reflective report, which provided an opportunity for me to evaluate the impact of the project on my learning and personal growth.

Wharton Global Youth: Let’s talk a minute about the product. What inspired you to go down this road of nutritional gummies for teenagers?

Valentina: Well, that’s a really good question actually. In fact, there are many factors that inspired me to start this project, including my personal experience, a keen interest in health and nutrition, and a desire to address a pressing need in teenagers. When deciding the topic of this project, I knew I wanted to interconnect multiple themes. My desire was to bring together vitamins, minerals, supplements and culinary design.

My interest started when I participated in two summer MasterChef camps, where I learned very useful culinary techniques for cooking. As well, being part of an Italian family has significantly contributed to me with valuable insights about gastronomy. Through familiar traditions and practices, I’ve gained a unique perspective on the importance of nutrition, flavors and cultural influences in elaborating the lives of dishes.

In addition, in the biology and chemistry laboratory, through different practical experiments, I learned basic concepts about nutrition and macronutrients, but I wanted to acquire more knowledge in the field of micronutrients. In terms of the design skills, through design classes, I explored marketing tools, website development and restaurant branding that fascinated [me] by the communicative power of the colors, the logos, the icons and the labeling, that conveyed messages to all customers.

As a teenager myself, I became increasingly aware of the importance of nutrition for overall health and well-being. However, I also noticed a gap in the market when it came to nutritional supplements, specifically tailored to the needs and preference of us — teenagers. The concept of gummies appealed to me for the convenience, tastiness and potential to deliver essential nutrients in a format that is both appealing and accessible.

And finally, during the last few years, I discovered through different social media channels, the existence of one app called Yuka, that has captivated my interest since it analyzes food products, and explains by the scanning of their code, the evaluation of each product.

Wharton Global Youth: So, as you worked on your project, let’s get into the kind of details of the product itself. You ultimately started Hearts for Well-being, right, in which you designed five different types of heart-shaped, nutritional gummies to supplement a specific area of adolescent well-being. [Those areas are]: enhancing immune system, reducing anxiety, boosting concentration, minimizing skin alterations, and addressing sleep disorders. As you were developing this product, how did you determine that these five areas were crucial to teen health?

Valentina: In the journey of developing Hearts for Well-being, I meticulously researched and assessed the nutritional needs and common health challenges faced by teenagers by investigating through different sources — libraries, books, scientific reports, interviews, websites, stakeholder feedback, videos, and doing a research plan, among others. After it, I became increasingly aware of the challenges and complexities associated with this stage of development and could identify these five crucial areas as they were the most repetitive issues in this consulted research. As you may know, adolescence is a critical period characterized by rapid growth, hormonal change and new dietary habits that we need to ensure. And I chose specifically these colors, these flavors, and these label-design icons to effectively communicate the purpose of each gummy and show both nutritional value and appeal.

Wharton Global Youth: I’m interested, of course, because it’s something that we ingest or we eat, I want to know about the flavors. How did you create the gummies themselves with the right nutritional balance and the right flavors? Take us into the lab and walk us through your phases of product development.

Valentina: Well, I went through several steps for doing this project. The process began with formulating the recipe for the gummies, focusing on achieving the desired nutritional balance and flavor profile. This involved selecting appropriate ingredients, such as vitamins, minerals, gelatin, sugars, and flavorings, to meet the targeted health benefits for each type of gummy. Next, I searched high quality ingredients from reputable suppliers, such as the brand Natural Elements and The Harmonized System of Nomenclature. I contacted them and ensured their compliance with regulatory standards and safety requirements.

In the lab that really was my kitchen, I prepared the gummies according to the formulated recipe. The [process] was crucial, both measurements and mixing of ingredients to achieve a homogeneous mixture. And finally, I conducted a survey among my peers to know the feedback about my final product respecting all the initial achievement criteria, that it was taste, color, volumes, gluten free, and that it had to be without lactose.

Wharton Global Youth: Interesting. Tell me which flavors you ended up using?

Valentina: I ended up using strawberry, blueberry, lemon, watermelon and coconut and pineapple flavor.

Wharton Global Youth: You ultimately learned that taking a product to market can be tricky. What did you run into in terms of regulatory requirements? And did this prompt you to change formulas in hopes of commercializing the product someday?

Valentina: In my investigation, I found that it was a crucial factor that my product required regulatory requirements. Actually, it was the part of the project that I was most keen on. And I created tables for each gummy to calculate precise ingredient quantities, traceability and concentrations, following EU directives as I’m in Spain. And I insured food-grade ingredients and safe-dosage levels for teenagers, meeting nutrient standards. The directives that I used were the 2002 46 and the 90 496. I’ve gained an extensive understanding of micronutrients’ functions, and their required intake for a balanced diet, along with knowledge of food level requirements crucial for legal and ethical food product marketing.

Wharton Global Youth: Can you talk a little bit about the regulatory environment in Spain, just so that we understand it a little more? Basically, what this means is that you have to meet a certain standard with your product, or else it cannot be sold on the market, correct?

Valentina: Yes, you’re correct. In each different country, we have different regulators. But there’s a main one that is the European one, which you need to follow. It provides you with information of what should be legally put in each product level. So, in my product, which includes vitamins and minerals, there’s one section of all the directives [that] includes the nutritional reference value, which was really hard for me to calculate. But I finally ended up with the base mixture, and all the vitamins that I added into it, I calculated the NRV [Net Realizable Value] so I could provide in a safe manner to all the teenagers in society.

Wharton Global Youth: Right, and meet those all-important regulatory requirements for making them. I suspect that this is a really crowded market, and that there are a lot of different nutritional type products out there. How do you hope to differentiate your gummies?

Valentina: After really extensive research from all over the world, I’ve seen that there are many foods with supplements in the market. What will differentiate this business is that it specialized in targeting all the teenagers. I think that it will contribute to my peers for their well-being and to maintain their health.

“As for new ideas for growth, if I wanted to commercialize them, establishing a factory with proper health certifications, a social media presence, and a dedicated website would be essential. Additionally, as a competitive advantage, I could add a QR code to the label directly to an exclusive website for teenagers.” – Valentina Mariuzza

Wharton Global Youth: You’ve not done this alone. It sounds like you solicited customer and nutritionist feedback to advance the development of your gummies. Can you talk a little bit about those interactions, and maybe how they inspired new ideas for growth?

Valentina: Yes, so I’ve considered not only my personnel evaluation, but also the valuable feedback gathered through nutritionist feedback, and my mother, which also inspires me as she is a professional in food technology. I visited the specialist several times, which is a family business [Sol I Lluna] composed mainly by the doctor, Josefina Jimeno.

Regarding the conducted surveys among a variety of teenagers, they provided me mainly with information about the overall recommendation of the product, and the best flavors as well as the worst.

As for new ideas for growth, if I wanted to commercialize them, establishing a factory with proper health certifications, a social media presence, and a dedicated website would be essential. Additionally, as a competitive advantage, I could add a QR code to the label directly to an exclusive website for teenagers. If this product were to be effective in the future, it would be a great challenge to try to make a new version of a sugar-free gummy, for example. Moreover, the conduction of a study would be crucial for knowing the efficiency they have in teenagers’ daily lives after its consumption, which I’m willing to do it.

Potentially, I could enlarge this business into other target markets — for example, special woman needs, athletes, vegetarians and vegans, elderly people, or for individuals suffering from poverty, to help them with high concentration and availability of nutrients addressing their specific deficiencies. To enhance the overall impact of my project, offering the gummies for free could be both empathetic and a solidarity-driving activity. This collaboration might even provide the opportunity to donate the gummies. An interesting consideration for future interactions would involve re-evaluating and revising the formula of the gummy designed for stress reduction and anxiety, as the survey indicated a significant dislike in terms of taste because it had spirulina algae and ashwagandha extract, which had a unique strong smell and taste.

Wharton Global Youth: I’m interested about the family business and about your mom’s involvement as a consultant for you. Can you just talk a little bit more about that family connection?

Valentina: Yes, of course. Since I was little, all my family always has had this interest in the culinary arts. And I always cook with my grandmother and my mom. She has studied for technology. And my mom was a crucial part in this project because she always was motivating me to continue doing this project. And finally, I enjoyed with her because she was seeing that I also enjoyed what she was doing.

Wharton Global Youth: You’re headed to Essentials of Entrepreneurship this summer, which is a Wharton Global Youth program. Do you hope to build this into an actual business? And how do you think our program might help you think about it in a new way?

Valentina: I hope to learn additional techniques to expand my business, such as the best methods for target customer expansion, and methods to scale domestically and internationally. The program will also help me connect with peers and students from different cultures and backgrounds, all of whom will enrich my learning and broaden my perspectives. And I look forward to enhancing my communication skills to build a reliable network of collaborators. I am confident that it will boost my chances of success in my just-beginning business career, also training on marketing tools that can assist me in future personal business ventures. And this project topic has significantly contribute dto my self awareness, and guiding my future professional interest. I’ve been able to explore and consider areas, careers and universities for my future, that are truly passionate to me, like pharmacy, business, marketing and nutrition.

Wharton Global Youth: It has sparked your interest in different areas of business. I love to hear that.

Let us wrap up with our lightning-round questions. Try to answer these as quickly as you can. What is something about you that would surprise us?

Valentina: Okay, so that I was born in Barcelona and I have Italian nationality. And I have an immense mix of languages like Catalan, Spanish, English, Italian, dialects of Italian, German and a basic knowledge of Chinese.

Wharton Global Youth: What has been the hardest part of your entrepreneurship journey? So far?

Valentina: The hardest part is actually now where I must guarantee that my product will be notably different from the rest — finding a differential advantage compared to other nutritional supplements.

Wharton Global Youth: What is your favorite emerging technology?

Valentina: For sure, artificial intelligence, as well as augmented reality and virtual reality.

Wharton Global Youth: What is one work skill you think everyone should have?

Valentina: One essential work skill that I believe everyone should have is effective communication. Regardless of industry or job roles, the ability to communicate clearly, concisely and respectfully is invaluable.

Wharton Global Youth: We want to know the last song you downloaded or listened to?

Valentina: Well,I arrived home by train and I was listening to a piano song named Idea 10.

Wharton Global Youth: If you could win an Olympic medal for any sport, real or fake? What would it be?

Valentina: Tennis, for sure.

Wharton Global Youth: You are starting your own business-themed talk show. Who is your first guest, and why?

Valentina: My first guest would be my older sister, Micaela Mariuzza, as she is a fundamental part of my life. She always gives me support and is my role model to follow. Also, she’s really keen on the field of business and odontology (dentistry], which would be [her interests]. [I would also invite my uncle Fabio Terlevich,] who surely would bring interesting business insight.

Wharton Global Youth: Valentina, thank you for joining us on Future of the Business World.

Conversation Starters

Valentina says, “In the journey of developing Hearts for Well-being, I meticulously researched and assessed the nutritional needs and common health challenges faced by teenagers.” Do you think she arrived at the correct conclusions with the gummies she formulated? What flavor/nutritional supplement would you add and why? Take away?

Valentina went deep into exploring an area of personal interest for her school assignment. What project have you tackled at school that could or has become a business startup? Tell us your story in the comment section of this article.

What did Valentina learn about the role of government in product development? Did she appreciate this process?