The Hauora Collective — a group of year 13 students — has created Ora Drops as a healthy alternative to energy drinks.

Dilana Smith said the drops, which were part of their Young Enterprise Scheme, were created to reduce the country-wide reliance on energy drinks and caffeinated beverages.

She said they had sold 300 bottles of drops, of which her mother had bought eight.

"She has completely dropped energy drinks."

She said the bottles, which retailed at $12.99, had 50 servings per bottle.

"That works out to be 25 cents a serving, as compared to up to $5 for an energy drink."

The savings did not stop there, with waste from the product able to be repurposed into fence posts if customers returned the empty bottles to Work Outfitters in Washdyke.

Lucy Parry said the collective had been mentored by Annie Light, who had been very helpful and had "a major impact" on how well they

had done.

"We are very grateful for her."

Lucy said they were very open about their ingredients, which included 70 minerals and ginseng.

Briar Annett said creating the recipe had come down to "trial and error".

As the young girls were working towards an international win, which was reliant on a boost of sales, they were working with Foodstuffs to try to get it into supermarkets.

People could help them to achieve their dreams by buying product, leaving online reviews, stocking the product, and following their social media accounts (including Hauora Collective on Facebook).

Some of the local stockists are Millie Rose, Unichem Highfield and My Physio.

Read more here.