Business training for the young

Some of these young entrepreneurs will become the business people of tomorrow

1 of 3Zaya sold her bedazzled picture frames at the young entrepreneurs fair at Gordon Terrace Elementary School. — Marie Milner photo

2 of 3These miniature inuksuks, made by a student and sold at the young entrepreneurs fair at Gordon Terrace school, would be a welcome item in a souvenir shop. — Marie Milner photo

3 of 3Trena Neid (front row, in blue) and Jane Davies (to Neid's immediate left) of EKC, with a few teachers who worked with Cranbrook's Grade 3 to Grade 6 entrepreneurs. — Marie Milner photo

‹ ›

…

Who among us does not hope that today’s children will grow up to be socially and financially responsible citizens? Well, that doesn’t happen by accident. Developing those values takes time, reinforcement and a variety of real-world experiences.

Three Cranbrook elementary schools—Gordon Terrace, Amy Woodland and Highlands—recently had their students in grades 3 to 6 participate in a young entrepreneurs fair that turned out to be fun, exciting and deeply educational.

Experiential learning works

The idea of sponsoring an experiential educational event in elementary schools in Cranbrook, B.C., using a system from Power Play Strategies Inc. was brought to the board of the East Kootenay Community Credit Union (EKC) by Trena Neid, a mobile mortgage specialist.

“We liked this program because we could sponsor it but stay at arm's length,” said Jane Davies, marketing consultant for EKC. “School District No. 5 (Southeast Kootenay) liked the idea too.”

George Freitag, owner of Elizabeth Lake Lodge in Cranbrook, is on the board of EKC. Freitag’s son is a student at Gordon Terrace school, and because Freitag is also known to be an entertaining speaker, he was asked to explain to the students at Gordon Terrace how to prepare for the young entrepreneurs fair.

Davies said she had planned to spend 10 minutes at Freitag’s presentation getting some video footage to show the EKC board, but she ended up staying for the whole hour. She said it was fascinating to watch the students engage with Freitag and start to understand the concept of, for instance, an income statement.

“I wanted to have the students begin to understand that developing and selling their products takes the same steps that I follow to set up and run our business,” said Freitag. “The largest percentage of workers today—44 per cent—work in small businesses with one to five employees.”

Making it real

Diane Baher, senior manager of EKC’s Cranbrook services, attended all the young entrepreneurs events, offering guidance and acting as loans officer to help the participants with their floats. Students learned they had to pay back their loans, and some students were anxious to do that quickly, as they understood the concept of debt.

Freitag thinks that this type of experience can provide life lessons for children.

“My son said that the students were really excited to count their money,” he said. “They had to go through the process of showing what their expenses were, pay back their float, give a percentage to charity and calculate their profit. One of them even had to handle a little bit of debt.”

“We’re hoping that out of this project more kids will be empowered by the possibility of eventually going into business for themselves,” said Davies.