Budding business exec’s set up student shops in Prince Rupert

Budding business executives set up stalls to sell their wares to the public on Dec. 8 at the Annunciation School Young Entrepreneurs Fair.

For the past two months, 43 Grade 7 and 8 students have been honing their business acumen in the educational Young Entrepreneurs program.

Rose Citoli, Grade 7/8 STEM teacher, said students designed their own business and learned a new skill each week, with the grand finale being the Entrepreneur Fair.

Students have learned about idea concepts, product development, marketing, money plans, customer base and had to create their own business plan for their vision.

Products sold at the fair showed the student’s ingenuity and ranged from beaded, clay and epoxy resin key chains, jewellery, stickers, scented fragrances, stress balls, trinket carriers, tie-dyed socks and more.

“They did research where they had some questions to ask each class, or what would influence their product. So, if they had keychains, what kind of keychains would you like … then they based that information from gathering all of their materials together to [set] good sale prices,” Patricia Berlanga, Grade 7/8 Humanities teacher, said.

Students had to finance their own business start-ups by purchasing supplies. Some used money from odd jobs, others used what was in their wallet, some relied on the Bank of Mom and Dad. The caveat was if they borrowed money, as in regular business, they have to pay it back from their profits.

A component of the project was charitable donations, with businesses required to donate 10 per cent of their profits to a chosen charity.

Molly Johnson, Grade 8 student, built her business based on her own need recognizing it could help others. She financed her business and bought tennis balls and supplies with babysitting money to make a stock of 50 items.

“I have made little backpack buddies and pocket pals. Basically, they hold coins and trinkets in your bag. And I made them because I’m someone who has a bunch of trinkets and coins in my bag and I find that I lose them — a lot, in the bottom of my bag with my homework and everything.”

Zayden Schmidt credits his mom with the concept of his unique tie-dyed socks business. He purchased socks online for $30 and dye kits for $26 from an art store with money from his own wallet, he said. A time investment of an hour and a half just to tie-dye the socks was followed by a few more steps of rinsing, drying, and packaging the product to sell. He made more than 55 pairs of socks, 30 of which had sold for $4.00 a pair just 90 mins into the vendor’s market. His chosen charity was the BC Children’s Hospital.

Linden Flanagan chose to make bracelets and key chains because beading is an interest to her and it’s fun she said.

“I feel like it’s nice to accessorize. I personally like to have lots of bracelets on my wrists and keychains on my backpack and things like that.”

She said her time investment was three to five minutes to make a key chain and up to ten minutes for a bracelet. She purchased two different types of bead kits online, which cost $36 and the rings for keys cost $4.00. She made 40 items to sell at the fair and was hoping to make at least $60, she said. Her mom assisted with financial backing to cover the cost of supplies.

“So your parents can give you a loan of money. You can buy your supplies with that. Then once you’ve made all your profit [you pay it back]. My mom loaned me $40, so I would pay her $40 back and then we donate to a charity and then I get whatever is leftover,” Flanagan said.