“I wasn’t sure I could pay off the loan,” Detwiler

says. “But my parents paid their youth loans off in two years. That helped me realize I could do this.” He was right. In 2008, he sold 1,380 pounds of black raspberries and last year, nearly doubled that. Last fall he added 2,500 strawberry plants. They’re not ordinary plants—they’re, un-der plastic covering, for less weeding and faster growth.

Plasticulture also requires less labor, something Detwi-ler will appreciate when he leaves Jake’s Berries in other hands this fall, as he heads to Morehead State University in Morehead, Ky. He plans to work during school breaks, but expects to pay his dad or brother—or even a few FFA members—to help him out when he’s in classes.“It seems like he has a lot of elders pointing him in the

right direction,” says Charles Nestor, who nominated Det-wiler. Nestor, an NFIB mem-ber, owns CSN Motor Sports Inc., a collision repair facility in Plain City, Ohio. Detwiler, who won $5,000, wants to add blueberries and more rasp-berries and sell them frozen during the winter. “Somehow we’re going to have to feed these people.”

Helping you achieveyour financial goals

Business will continue when he attends college in New York City, and he might even hire an assistant. He’s also exploring ways to create truffle-based butter, creams and sauces.

addressing the needs of individual investors and planting the seeds for a secure future.

MARKET WATCHPurkayastha, 17, of Fayetteville, Ark., imports European truffles and sells them to high-end restaurants and distributors across the United States. In just two years, his company, Tartufi Unlimited, increased sales of the exotic fungi—which sell for up to $5,000 per pound—from 2 pounds per week to 60. “I import and distribute fresh truffles around the U.S.,” he says, rattling off truffle names like winter and pellegro the way other teens might discuss videogame titles.

foto: gardinero

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purkayastha says it`s his mission

cold calls, meets with chefs and

attends thade shows . . . . . . . 1

purkayastha says it`s his mission

cold calls, meets with chefs and

attends thade shows . . . . . . . 2

purkayastha says it`s his mission

cold calls, meets with chefs and

attends thade shows . . . . . . . 3