10-Year-Old Entrepreneur, Inventor, College Student and CEO Launches Education Foundation, Summer Inventors Camp for Kids.

Business Editors

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 24, 2002

At age six, she sketched out a prototype of her first new product. By age nine, she had sold her first company.

Now at the ripe old age of 10, Kelly Reinhart, a fourth-grade student at the Atkinson Elementary School, has started another business venture, her own non-profit organization, the Kelly Reinhart Educational Initiative (KREI). The organization's mission is to help other children become creative thinkers, successful inventors and entrepreneurs.

The first in a series of Kelly Reinhart Educational Initiative programs is the Inventors Camp for children ages 9 to 17. The one-week day camp will be held from August 5th through August 9th on the campus of Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass., where Kelly is enrolled in college-level business courses.

The camp introduces the basic concepts of entrepreneurship, gives students an overview of the steps to starting a business, and teaches children how to create, design and develop their ideas and inventions. The purpose of the camp is to motivate children to become creative thinkers and effective problem solvers. Each student will learn how to start and operate a youth-owned business. Parents can register their children by calling 978-258-3308. Fee for Inventors Camp is $395 for the one-week session. Corporate sponsors are currently being sought.

The hit product that launched Kelly Reinhart's burgeoning business career was the T-Pak, originally conceived as a kid's variation on the popular fanny pack. The T-Pak straps to the thigh like a holster and holds toys, snacks and other essentials.

"I got the idea from watching Westerns on TV with my dad," says Kelly.

"What started as a rainy-day project for our seven kids turned into a company with thousands of orders during the first year," says Kelly's father, Bob Reinhart. "I never imagined back in 1998 that I would quit my job and go to work for my daughter."

Father and daughter developed and refined prototypes of the T-Pak, patented the design and eventually set up manufacturing for the product in mainland China. After exhibiting their creation at the ASD/AMD tradeshow in Las Vegas, T-Pak orders quickly grew, and Bob Reinhart sought financing assistance from the state-run Massachusetts Manufacturers Extension Partnership Program (MEPP). The professionals from MEPP hooked the Reinharts up with an investor who purchased a 70 per cent stake in Kelly's company, Innovative Gear, Inc.

Kelly envisioned the newly formed Kelly Reinhart Education Initiative as a means to help children cultivate creative thinking and problem solving skills and to stimulate interest in invention and entrepreneurship. In addition to the camp, the Initiative kicks off a series of workshops this September. The 10-week workshops will be held weekly after school on the Merrimack College campus.

With her active involvement in Innovative Gear, Inc. winding down, Kelly is finding time for other projects, such as her new Educational Initiative, frequent speaking engagements at schools, participating in an after school gymnastics program, and taking college courses.

Kelly has also completed the first book of a book series for young children, which includes a sing-a-long tape and inspirational doll called OO-MEE. This project, along with a new type of talking motion detector that can be used to bring pictures to life, has been drawing the attention of retail stores once again. Kelly is predicting the same success garnered from her first invention, and is currently seeking investors to help launch these products.

"Grown ups aren't the only ones with good ideas and ambition," says Bob Reinhart. "Kelly has shown that with the right encouragement and support, kids can do great things, too."

About the Kelly Reinhart Education Initiative, Inc.

Founded this year, the Kelly Reinhart Education Initiative (KREI) is a non-profit foundation, based in Massachusetts, which seeks to help children develop critical-thinking and problem-solving skills that will become useful in business careers and throughout life. KREI's initial programs include summer Inventors Camp and a weekly Inventors Workshop series, which begins this fall. Both the camp and workshops are for children ages 9 to 17. More information on the Kelly Reinhart Education Initiative and the organization's programs can be obtained by calling 978-258-3308 or from the KREI Web site at www.kellysclubhouse.org.