Trail’s young dragons

A couple of bold teenage entrepreneurs from Trail, B.C., have a promising future in business

Tim Baldwin (L) and Jordan Strobel were the winners of senior category of the 2014 Junior Dragons' Den competition in Trail, B.C. Their business is called Ebon Supply Co. — Photo courtesy Jordan Strobel

In 2013, Rossland, B.C., 11th-graders Jordan Strobel and Tim Baldwin took an entrepreneurial class that led them to start Ebon Supply Company, an extreme sports apparel company. While the young entrepreneurs don’t actually make the garments and accessories they sell, they do design the graphics that adorn them.

In April 2014, the partners presented their business expansion plans at the first Junior Dragons’ Den competition—a project of Community Futures Development Corporation—in Trail, B.C., and they won the competition. We asked Strobel a few questions about Ebon and its future.

What’s your company name all about?

“Ebon” really expresses our mindset. It stands for “everybody owns now,” so own the moment and live all you can—that’s what we stand for.

When did you realize your designs could actually be a business for you?

I guess when we started making sales. Originally we just wanted to see what we could make and how our designs would look on a garment, but when people started buying our stuff, we decided to do more. When we won the first Junior Dragons’ Den, we realized this could actually be something.

How was your business affected by your winning?

Well, definitely the prize money of $2,500 to put back into the business helped a lot. We were able to get an order of ski goggles in, and some other new products. We sponsored 30 athletes across the world as a result of the win, and that helps with the cool factor. The local exposure helped with people knowing who we are. It’s been a huge confidence booster that we can make this happen and that people believe in us. It motivates us to not give up on it.

Ebon Supply Company applies its own graphics to its line of sports apparel. — Photo courtesy Jordan Strobel

What’s next?

Going into next season, we’ve re-branded our website into ESC from the longer name—I think it looks cleaner and catchier. We’ll have a whole bunch of new products and we’ll start to do our own printing.

Do you have advice for those who might be hesitant to pursue their dreams?

You’ve got to give it a shot. Make it something you enjoy, and take a chance. You never know what’ll happen.

As of September 1, Tim Baldwin is living in Whistler, B.C., where he will pursue his competitive snowboarding career and continue to showcase the Ebon designs directly to Ebon’s high profile target market.