The outstanding seven year old entrepreneur selling tees and planting trees
Sebastian Onate-Henriquez didn’t want to wait until he was an adult to start making an impact. The seven year old social entrepreneur from Broughton Anglican College sells T-shirts through his business The Earth is my Place, while saving the planet along the way.
When the Edstart Achievement Award winner learned about the detrimental environmental effects of the fashion industry, he was motivated to start his own green revolution. Clothing production accounts for 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions , making it important for new business owners like Sebastian to reduce their environmental footprint.
Making T-shirts for change
All of the T-shirts Sebastian sells are his own designs and are made from sustainable and recycled materials such as post consumer plastic bottles.
He has produced 8 different designs so far, displaying artwork from his own drawings. Some of Sebastian’s favourite things to draw have an environmental theme such as his collection of Australian wildlife which include wombats, echidnas and koalas.
For every T-shirt sold Sebastian pledges to plant a tree to combat the negative impacts of clothing production and inspire people to respect our planet. So far he has planted 111 trees!
Running a business from home
Sebastian currently runs his business from his home study, where he both draws his new designs and details them on a computer.
On top of using recycled materials to make the shirts, Sebastian minimises his output of waste by also making them printed to order and posted to his customers in a compostable satchel.
A hopeful future
Sebastian has put his $1,500 Edstart Achievement Awards grant to good use launching a website, securing a new T-shirt supplier and ordering biodegradable satchels. He also plans to do an online marketing campaign to reach his goal of selling 1000 shirts and subsequently planting 1000 trees.
An increasing number of companies are seeking ways to reduce their environmental footprint and commit to net zero carbon emissions targets. Our future business leaders like Sebastian, shine a light on the importance of this direction, and we hope his business will encourage others to innovate their operations in support of environmental causes.
About Edstart
Edstart is a leading technology and financial services company providing funding and payment services for education. We offer fee management solutions to schools and flexible payment plans to parents to help make school fees easier to manage.
To see how we can help you, visit our main website.
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Edstart is a leading technology and financial services company providing funding and payment services for education. We offer fee management solutions to schools and flexible payment plans to parents to help make school fees easier to manage.
To see how we can help you, visit our main website.
Find out more