Smart, determined and enthusiastic — these are just of few of the traits that budding young entrepreneur Malachi Symonds boasts in spades.

The bright Bermudian may be only 20, but he already has an acute business sense and an eagerness to succeed.

He launched his own company in May last year, Paddle Popped Popcorn, and has nurtured it from a small stall at a local craft market to an Island-wide success story, with his product now sold in stores across Bermuda.

The popcorn is made in a custom-made kettle and paddle popping ensures that the corn is raised to the precise temperature so that it pops to the biggest possible size, with “a fluffy texture and bold flavour”, according to Mr Symonds.

“It was tough in the beginning, but I’m getting the hang of it,” he said.

“I started out after talking to my dad, Troy Symonds; he’s an entrepreneur with different businesses. He advised setting up small, something I could manage easily.

“My popcorn is very different from anyone else’s; it’s not like anything else on the market.

“It doesn’t use electricity, it’s made in a big pot using propane gas.

“Business is getting pretty good. I started off at the Saturday market in Hamilton and everyone was into it. It’s now in stores like People’s Pharmacy, Yo Cherry and Brown and Co.”

Mr Symonds is keen to expand and get the word out about his product — and has come up with a unique way of doing so.

“I looked at the different markets, chip markets, how Lay’s were set up, and I’m trying to advertise more,” he said.

“I’m now working on a comic book that focuses on the business. I hope to launch that within the next two months.

“It’s about a young boy who ventures off into the Bermuda Triangle. He’s on a jet ski with his father when a storm hits and he gets knocked off.

“When he wakes up he’s on an island, where a master takes him to a monastery and teaches him all about popcorn. Then one day he is exploring the enchanted forest and gets caught up in a cyclone and ends up back in Bermuda.

“The hero was inspired by me initially, and my father did get lost on a jet ski once and swam back in — that was before I was born.

“He’s a big inspiration, he’s really good at business. He gives me ideas and advice, but he lets me make my own decisions.”

Mr Symonds said that his father “invested in the business a little bit” but the rest is down to his own hard work.

He launched the venture to help to fund his university studies. The former Warwick Academy student went to South India’s Kodaikanal International School for two years to do his International Baccalaureate, returning in 2012, and hopes to go to Earth University in Costa Rica next year.

“I studied in India because I wanted to go away to school — it was at a monastery up in the mountains,” he said. “I was back about nine months before launching Paddle Popped.

“The initial idea was to start a business that could run itself so it could fund my studies while I’m away — I hated having to ask my parents for money at school.”

Mr Symonds hopes to study agriculture at university. “I like business but my passion is the environment,” he said. “I’m looking into agriculture but business is also a part of it — I don’t want to work for anyone else.”

Paddle Popped Popcorn is available at Bailey’s Ice Cream, Bermuda College Book Store, Bermy Berry in Hamilton, Brown and Co, Double Dip, Hickory Stick, Hunts Food and Supply, Leisure Time, Lindo’s in Devonshire, People’s Pharmacy, Rubis Gas Station in Paget, and Yo Cherry.