Otago Girls’ High School year 12 pupil Mariah Taungapeau will be serving cups of a traditional Tongan mango drink at The Bowling Club — Dunedin from 3.30pm today.
Mariah said the idea was her business project for the Young Enterprise programme she took part in at school.
She said her main focus was to share and express her culture.
"My family had a small business in Tonga, so a lot of my inspiration came from them and just sharing and embracing my culture with my peers."
The mango drink was a staple drink in Tongan cuisine and so it was a no-brainer for her to incorporate it into her business, she said.
She had worked for The Bowling Club for two months and so there was a natural partnership there.
She said the mango drink would be sold at $3 per cup so a $2 profit could be made and given back to the eatery.
"I guess the whole purpose of selling it at The Bowling Club as well was so it was like accessible to everyone and anyone can come and try it if they feel."
Mariah’s business studies teacher, Duncan Trickey, said she was a great example of what a young entrepreneur could do.
"The girls’ idea has been fantastic and they really bring this kind of service to all they do with bringing the food and their culture into the business.
"It’s really important the way that we do business — we’re not leaving our culture behind."
