President Barack Obama planned to meet with 15 small business owners Tuesday afternoon at the White House to show that the business community backs his ideas to avert the fiscal cliff. Included on the list of invited guests was Arnulfo Ventura, one of the co-founders of Cobá, a Downtown Los Angeles-based manufacturer of a line of drinks now sold at Whole Foods and small shops. Known as aguas frescas, the drinks come in flavors such as horchata, tamarind, mango and hibiscus.

Ventura and fellow Stanford Graduate School of Business student Jose Domene start selling the beverages in 2008 under the brand name Bonadea. In 2008, they realized a name switch and bottle redesign was in order to lift sales. Domene in Dec. 2010 became the general manager of soccer club Chivas USA.

Ventura didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday morning. He also was part of a small business led by the White House in Los Angeles back in March.

Ventura grew up in San Diego, studied architecture at UC Berkeley, worked as private wealth advisor and then decided to tap into the beverage market to serve the Latino community while studying with Domene.

"A drink practically as old as historia itself in Latin America, aguas frescas combine fresh fruits, cereals or seeds with water to make a refreshing, flavorful, thirst quenching and all natural beverage," Coba's website states. "Don’t call it juice. Don’t call it soda. It’s not carbonated. Nor is it loaded with sugar. It’s simply pure agua, lightly flavored."

Here's a video from ABC7 about Coba broadcast in July 2011:

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