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Ever since Robert Donohue, Abby Green and Alex Livingstone came up with Abalro, few, if any pupils have acne.

The trio created a Young Enterprise Scheme earlier this year to produce and market an Iranian super-food called barberry.

Robert said barberries contained a compound called berberine, which acted as an antioxidant, and helped to improve blood sugar control, treat diarrhoea, and fight inflammation.

Studies also showed it had a high potential for reducing acne.

For any teenager, any product that could reduce acne was worth its weight in gold, he said.

Just about every pupil was buying it.

The business recently won the runner-up award at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Young Enterprise Awards.

Abby said they were surprised to win the award.

"We were... year 12, so we weren’t really expecting it."

Inspiration for the product came from Alex.

"A year ago, my father found out about this product made from barberries, but we couldn’t get it on the New Zealand market," Alex said.

"So when the Young Enterprise Scheme came up, we decided to import barberries and make it ourselves, and be the first to sell it in New Zealand."

Robert said the barberries were freeze-dried and then ground into a powder which could be put in smoothies, yoghurt or breakfast cereals.

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