Summer is here.
The days are long and the weekends are busy.
Other than the decline in mosquito populations, a sure sign of summer are the lemonade stands popping up on roadsides.
I've made it a general tenet in life to never drive by a children's lemonade stand without stopping. Everyone traveling in my vehicle gets a cup of iced tea or lemonade whether they like it or not.
It is my desire, to promote the foundation of entrepreneurship at every opportunity, which motivates me to put on my brakes when it is easier to speed on by. Lemonade stands, garage sales and other opportunities to make money from their own initiative is the stuff that kids get excited about. It involves unpredictable transactions with real money; no make-believe role playing here. It is their chance to safely dabble in adult-like constructs with a bit of creativity, persuasion and potential profit mixed in.
So, if roadside sales are the first step down the path towards an education in commerce, why are there so few local opportunities for kids to explore business even further? Summer educational activities for kids are meant to continue the cultivation of young minds in the absence of school. Parents are quick to register their children for summer programs focusing on everything from art to sports, computer science to animal care. What if kids finished the summer with an experience that could give them a real leg up in life?
In neighbouring Alberta for example, a Youth Entrepreneurship Camp is run out of a ranch in Cypress Hills with a mandate to, "educate youth about marketing, advertising, preparing a cash-flow statement and writing a business plan." The final day at camp is Business Day, where campers can turn their business idea into a fully functioning business, with money lent by real bankers, outside of the ranch. How would 'Camp Capitalism' go over in our community?
If Prince George adopts a long-term plan to encourage business development in this city, it starts by encouraging our youngest residents to see the validity of business as a future occupation. The spirit of entrepreneurship, and children's ability to see themselves in business, is worth fostering. Prince George has the additional advantage of having both a college and a university with business programs. Adding a youth entrepreneurship program to campus summer programming could feed higher future post-secondary business program enrollment.
When we stop thinking of business as a mature activity, and instead understand that the spark of interest is lit during childhood, we can support the full journey to entrepreneurship.
Until next week, stay in the black and keep coming back.
