Alex Hill was visiting Key West when he noticed droves of beachgoers drinking fresh coconut water straight from the source.
“The thing that really got my attention the most was how happy everybody was when they got them,” Hill said of Florida’s green coconuts. “You could just see their faces light up like a kid in a candy store.”
Hill, a junior at the University of West Florida, eventually decided to bring the Florida coconuts to the Panhandle, opening up a mobile kiosk in Harbor Walk Village in Destin and selling more than 1,000 coconuts in the just the first month.
And he has big plans for expansion, hoping to become a business staple in tourist destinations such as Pensacola Beach and Perdido Key.
Hill’s entrepreneurial efforts were recognized on Wednesday when Gov. Rick Scott presented him with the Governor’s Young Entrepreneur Award in Tallahassee.
“It was a really cool signifier of all the hard work that’s definitely gone into making Florida Coconuts what it is today and what I hope it becomes,” Hill said.
Before the presentation, Hill, 26, presented Scott and some of the other state officials on hand with fresh Florida coconuts to enjoy.
“I’m proud to recognize Alex Hill with the Governor’s Young Entrepreneur Award,” Scott said in a news release. “Young entrepreneurs like Alex have helped propel our economy with more than 1.5 million jobs created since December 2010.”
A U.S. Army veteran who served in both Afghanistan and Africa, Hill was a member of Veterans Florida Entrepreneurship Program offered by Veterans Florida in partnership with the UWF Military and Veterans Resource Center. The series of workshops and classes provide mentorship and guidance to military veterans who want to start their own business.
Last month, Hill finished second in a “Shark Tank”-style competition held at UWF where veterans pitched their business plans to a panel of judges. He then won second place in a statewide pitch competition in held in Tampa where he represented UWF, competing with veteran entrepreneurs from the University of Central Florida, University of North Florida, Hillsborough Community College, Florida Gulf Coast University and Florida Atlantic University.
“He is really moving forward in the entrepreneurial world,” Marc Churchwell, director of the UWF Military and Veterans Resource Center, said of Hill. Churchwell accompanied Hill to the award ceremony in Tallahassee.
Hill’s dreams for expansion include opening his own 100-acre coconut farm within the next few years to grow enough coconuts to keep up with the rising demand. He also he hopes to inspire other veterans to pursue their business dreams.
“I think it’s a really good story I can share with other people to say, ‘For me, it was coconuts. What’s your coconut?’
