It’s a long way from the first lemonade stand to a steadfast career.
That’s not to say that youth cannot learn from their early babysitting, dog walking or snowplowing job, said Benita Pedersen, project coordinator with Community Futures Tawatinaw Region in Westlock.
To teach the ins and outs of running a business, and how to make the most of an early career, Pedersen is now offering a youth entrepreneurship program.
BizKids will run for seven weeks at Sturgeon Composite and Morinville Community High School, starting next week.
“The premise of the program is to teach youth to make money by running businesses for themselves,” said Pedersen.
“We decided we need to reach people at a younger age and try to give them this basic financial knowledge so they can be more successful later in life.”
Community Futures is a non-profit organization financed by the federal government to help business in rural Alberta succeed.
While the organization largely focuses on dealing with established and adult entrepreneurs, many of its customers seem to lack the basic knowledge about using credit, bookkeeping and marketing, said Pedersen.
She decided to grab the problem by its root, and return to school to teach youth the basic know-how of running a business.
BizKids will instruct students on everything from marketing, to keeping good records, differentiating good from mediocre customer service and using credit responsibly, said Pedersen.
Ideally, participants will be ready to enter successful self-employment by December, she said.
“That’s the big key there that by the end of the course each student should be able to write up a business plan and be ready to start up a business,” she said.
Pedersen said the program is free and open to all youth from both Morinville and Sturgeon Composite but they also accept students from other schools, or home-schooled youth.
What kind of business the kids want to start up afterwards is left to their creativity, she added.
Having started out at an early age herself – she studied entrepreneurship at 17 and created her own DJ-service a year later – Pedersen only looks to pique their interest and teach them the necessities of running a business, she said.
“(My business) paid for my vehicles, it paid for my house and I am blessed enough to make money by doing something that I enjoy,” she said. “And I would love to teach and inspire others to do something similar.”
Program information
Classes in Morinville will start Tuesday, Oct. 7 and run from 3:15 p.m. to 5:15 p.m. At Sturgeon Composite, classes will start a day later, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., and run until late November. <br />A final class will be taught in early December, after which successful students can pitch a business and apply for a $300 loan from Community Futures.<br />Registration forms are available at student services, and interested youth can sign up until the first day of the course. For more information call 1-888-349-2903 or email [email protected].
