Kyler Caldwell doesn’t define the exact moment his nutrition bar company, Genki Products Japan, became an official business. For the USC Iovine and Young freshman, the road to success has been paved with adversity, perseverance, and a driving desire to make a difference, and sometimes he still feels like he’s just running a bake sale. After battling health issues that opened his eyes to the palpable needs of people and the community surrounding him, he felt a social responsibility to channel his experience into action. For Caldwell, business will always be undeniably personal. 

Founding a company wasn’t necessarily one of Caldwell’s youthful ambitions, but his perspective was forever altered after spending two years of adolescence in and out of the hospital. When he gradually began exhibiting signs of physical decline, the middle school athlete living in Japan who regularly ran and played basketball, was urged by his observant sister to see a doctor. It was determined that Caldwell was suffering from severe malnutrition that caused his organs like his heart and brain to nearly shut down. Not only did Caldwell undergo symptoms like bleeding skin from lack of nutrients, his thyroid stopped producing hormones. The pain in places like his knees and his joints was difficult to endure, but the chemical imbalance affecting his brain was the hardest manifestation to face, leading to serious side effects like suicidal thoughts and harsh mood changes. What impelled him to see the light at the end of a pitch-black tunnel was encouragement from two disparate places – his little brother, and a newfound motivation to help as many people in need as possible. 

“I realized my position … I would go to the hospital and get every test imaginable and we would come out with a bill of zero yen. It would be free. There are billions of people around the world who don’t have that access,” Caldwell shares. “Because I’m in this position and I had the opportunity to get better, it’s my job to get better,  and do something with that. That’s how the initial start of The Genki Project was a thought.”

Caldwell admits he did not have a strategy for Genki and he learned as he went. The startup world wasn’t exactly familiar territory. Over summer break during his recovery at age 14, he kicked off a high-energy nutrition bar concept at home in his family kitchen, whipping up over 200 different prototypes to sample (much to his parents’ chagrin). Once the product was ready it was time for a bake sale. That bake sale turned into many successful sales to follow. Suddenly, Caldwell had a budding business on his hands. With encouragement from a significant teacher and mentor at his school, he slowly figured out how to take his idea to the next level. After a long year of developing all elements of the company, from packaging to pitches, he officially signed paperwork for a production facility. The grueling and rewarding process has filled the last four years of Caldwell’s life. 

What sets The Genki Project apart are the four pillars that make up its mission – nutrition, sustainability, community, and education. Caldwell stays true to his initial commitment to making a difference by ensuring these facets frame the ethos of the brand. 

“Those four pillars in particular are things I’ve noticed that industries weren’t doing as well as they could to support. Industries on a whole is a generalization and there are companies who do great work … but generally they don’t support those trends. Those were the ones that correlated or equated to the issues in my life,” he explains. 

Genki prioritizes sustainability through hybrid paper packaging and they are devoted to reducing plastic and food waste. Caldwell calls the nutrition aspect self-explanatory, as the bars “offer a natural balance of macro and micro nutrients for long-lasting energy.” A portion of the proceeds also provides meals to people facing food insecurity. The education side of Genki’s operation goes hand and hand with the nutrition objective and is truly close to Caldwell’s heart. He recalls the clear consequences of his own heart struggling to adequately pump blood to his brain while he was dealing with medical issues. When his brain failed to function properly his grades suffered. Once he got better, they improved tremendously. Raised by a family of educators, Caldwell knows the importance of keeping the mind as healthy as the body. He recognizes that schools might receive support through donated books or supplies, but students can’t get a full educational benefit if their nutritional needs aren’t sustained as well. 

When it comes to the community pillar of the business, Caldwell learned from scrutinizing what he calls potentially inhumane production practices in factories. He knew he didn’t want to go that route managing Genki. Inspired by volunteering with a group called Hands On Tokyo that worked with people with severe cognitive impairments, he decided to hire employees with intellectual disabilities who otherwise have limited employment opportunities in Japan. 

Now simultaneously a business owner and a new Academy student, Caldwell is exploring the untapped pillars of his own identity beyond Genki. He sees a distinct opportunity to gain knowledge through collaboration. Programming and pitching skills are in his sights, but his ultimate goal? “I want to learn what my peers know.”

Even though Caldwell has accomplished so much in his young life, one of the reasons he chose the Academy was to cultivate sides of himself he hasn’t been able to develop before. 

“I am really interested in arts and entertainment and being able to grow that aspect of my personality and my life would be great. I am really excited for audio engineering and sound design classes,” he reports. “When I was in the hospital, a huge source of inspiration for me was video games. USC is one of the best schools for interactive entertainment and having the equipment like a motion capture studio at the Academy, it will be interesting to get into that space.

As Caldwell prepares to make new dreams come true in college, he’ll never forget the lessons he learned through his past. The Genki Project mentality will always be a part of him, no matter what he does. 

“I would always like to have a hand in education and nutrition and the intersection of those two,” he affirms of his future plans. “I would always like to keep a way to have a social impact in my work. That’s definitely going to be important to me.”

Freshman Kyler Caldwell is making a difference, one nutrition bar at a time. Not only does his company The Genki Project prioritize sustainability and provide nourishment, it’s committed to uplifting its community and educating on physical wellbeing. Caldwell’s story is a personal one, as he was inspired by the lessons he learned throughout his own struggles with malnutrition. Find out more about his exceptional journey towards creating a socially impactful brand that started as a simple bake sale.

Student Turns Battle With Malnutrition Into Socially Impactful Business