Koel Thomae, the co-founder of Noosa Yoghurt was at Fossil to speak to FBLA students on March 21. “It’s a local business that went global and is very successful,” said Lisa Landwehr. The club hoped that Thomae’s personal story would inspire and encourage many of Fossil’s young, up and coming entrepreneurs for their futures in business.

Upon graduating from a university in Australia, Thomae explained that she came to the United States and eventually lived in Boulder, Colorado. Working inside a constricting cubical, Thomae finally decided to pursue her passions in the food industry. Thomae’s story begins at the startup beverage company, Izzy, where she was the supply chain manager. “My time at the company laid a very strong foundation for my own business later on,” stated Thomae.

On a trip back to Australia, Thomae stopped at a small corner shop where her “food revolution” would be the spark that changed her life. “This small container of passion fruit yogurt was a whole new world for me,” she said. “It was just so good.” She contacted the producers of its product who would eventually become the co-founders of Noosa. Thomae’s proposal for the business got her an informal license to some ownership of the original passion fruit yogurt.

After researching the yogurt industry specific to Colorado, Thomae made the decision to partner with other local business suppliers such as Morning Fresh Dairy for the production of her product. “It was truly overwhelming, realizing all the inputs that were required for this product,” Thomae stressed. The complexity of the dairy industry and the legal regulations that had to be acknowledged were extensive.

Noosa was finally launched onto the shelves in January 2010. Thomae stated that, “It was a very long process of decisions, research, and final decisions that took many years.” The company was able to obtain chain stores such as Super Target and King Soopers to test the product which proved that Noosa yoghurt would be a success.

“I hope our speaker resonates with many of us entrepreneurs here,” said Neil Rowen, President of FBLA. “We may be young, but we still have big ambitions and every successful person starts somewhere.”