Michigan company and teen founder named to annual list of America's fastest-growing private companies

Inc. magazine on Wednesday revealed that Michigan native 15-Year-old Alina Morse’s company, Zolli Candy, is No. 532 on its annual Inc. 5000 list, the most prestigious ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. The sophomore high school student advanced more than 100 spots from her 2019 ranking (No. 635) with three-year revenue growth of 865.77 percent. The September 2020 Inc. 5000 issue is on newsstands now.

“It’s a huge honor to make the Inc. 5000 list for a second year in a row,” said Morse. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been a really interesting time for me-going to school full-time from home and being able to commit a more substantial amount of my time growing the Zolli Candy line of products. I’m thrilled to be part of such a dynamic list of incredible independent small businesses that make up this year’s list.” 

The 2020 Inc. 5000 companies achieved a three-year average growth of over 500 percent, and a median rate of 165 percent. The Inc. 5000’s aggregate revenue was $209 billion in 2019, accounting for over 1 million jobs over the past three years.  Intuit, Zappos, Under Armour, Microsoft, Patagonia, and many other well-known names gained their first national exposure as honorees on the Inc. 5000.

“The companies on this year’s Inc. 5000 come from nearly every realm of business,” says Inc. editor-in-chief Scott Omelianuk. “From health and software to media and hospitality, the 2020 list proves that no matter the sector, incredible growth is based on the foundations of tenacity and opportunism.”

At age seven, while researching ways to create healthy candy she could have all the time, Morse invented Zollipops®, the clean teen lollipops, and hit shelves in 2014 at age nine. Her Zolli Candy line (Zollipops, Zolli® Drops, Zaffi® Taffy, Zolli Caramelz, Zolli Gumeez, Zolli Beanz, Zolli Ball Pops) is now sold at over 25,000 retailers, including America’s largest, including the #1 retailer, Walmart, the #1 grocer, Kroger, the #1 drug chain, CVS, and the #1 online, Amazon. Target, Walgreens, and Whole Foods round out her domestic retail footprint. She also exports to China, Korea and France, while committing 10 percent of profits to support an increase in oral health education in schools by giving 4-MM products through her “Million Smiles Initiative” to help fight America’s most chronic childhood disease—tooth decay.

Morse is the youngest person to ever appear on the cover of Entrepreneur Magazine (2018), delivered a TED Talk, “Why I eat candy to avoid Cavities,” and in early 2019, InStyle Magazine named her one of 50 Badass Women Changing the World alongside other trailblazers like First Lady Michelle Obama, who invited her to the White House twice as the exclusive candy for the annual Easter Egg Roll.

Morse was the youngest ever keynote speaker at the 2019 Advertising Week Conference, alongside Bethenny Frankel, Serena Williams & Gwyneth Paltrow. Prior to the pandemic, she was the keynote speaker at Maria Shriver’s Architects of Change event in San Diego in Mar. 2020 before clocking in a 250 percent increase in sales (vs 2019) heading into Easter on Amazon, while being nominated for a 2020 Emmy, for a feature done on her by CBS’ Inside Edition, which racked up more than 2 million views. Following the launch of her company in 2015, Forbes named her product as one of “Top 10 Emerging Food Trends” while People magazine named it as part of their “People Great Ideas.”

To learn more about Zolli Candy, visit www.ZolliCandy.com. For complete results of the Inc. 5000, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, region, and other criteria, can be found at www.inc.com/inc5000.