Kid entrepreneurs pitch their products at the Bay Centre
Students will offer a variety of products that they make themselves, re-purpose or re-sell, from butterfly feeders to cards, artwork, vintage clothing, plants, notebooks and crocheted animals
Nine-year-old Anders Yee will be selling cookies, cupcakes and lemonade at the Kidovate youth entrepreneurship market in the Bay Centre today.
The Grade 3 student is hoping to raise $4,000, which he plans to donate to the Victoria Hospitals Foundation to help pay for medical equipment, in honour of his father, who died of a brain aneurysm in the summer of 2022. “The reason I wanted to do it was to save a life.”
It’s not the first time Anders has raised money for the foundation — he has passed on more than $3,000 to the Hospital Foundation from donations and lemonade sales in the driveway of his Saanich home. One anonymous donor gave $1,000.
“He’s always been very giving — it comes naturally to him,” said his mother, Susanna Yee.
Anders is “so excited for this event. He’s been planning since Christmas.”
Making cookies “took a lot of work” but he said he’s happy to do it. “I’m helping other people.”
He’ll be selling cookies and glasses of lemonade for $2 each and cupcakes for $3 each between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. in the Bay Centre. The cookie selection includes oatmeal, sugar, chocolate chip, coconut meringues and peanut butter. His own personal favourite: brown sugar oatmeal.
Kidovate is offered through UVic’s Gustavson School of Business. It’s focused on middle school and high school students, who learn the basics of how to be an entrepreneur through a graphic novel-style workbook that gives step-by-step instructions for participants and includes a section on corporate social responsibility.
Students, who will be located in the centre court and levels one through three of the centre, will offer a wide variety of products that they make themselves, re-purpose or re-sell, from butterfly feeders to cards, artwork, vintage clothing, plants, notebooks and crocheted animals. Students are encouraged but not required to consider donating to good causes.
Tania Chavez, vice-principal and learning support teacher at the Victoria School for Ideal Education, is bringing about a dozen students to the youth market, the largest group from the school to date. The school has participated every year, with students volunteering to take part.
Students who participate — some more than once — learn to speak to the public and share interests in something they are passionate about, she said.
They learn math when working out the financial aspect to a project — everything from reimbursing parents for the price of materials to pricing and figuring how much to donate to a charity.
“All the parents are telling me [the students] are working hard at home on it,” Chavez said. “I’m always surprised with how far they’ve come along, how much they are doing. That’s all on them.” One boy who lives on a farm is bringing root vegetables to sell. Others are selling jewelry, stickers, rock art, baking and hand-sewn bags.
UVic entrepreneurship professors Brock and Claudia Smith are again hosting the Kidovate market on behalf of the Gustavson School of Business.
Brock Smith said it may be the largest youth market in the country — it’s become so popular, they had to turn away some would-be participants this year.
He believes the youth market is growing in popularity because “everything is so expensive these days. Recent figures show that more than 35 per cent of adults in North America have some sort of side hustle and this number is expected to increase rapidly.”
Kids are tight for money and Kidovate is a way for middle school and high school students to start or grow a money-making side hustle, Smith said.
“We encourage repeat participation because each year the participants apply what they have learned to have even more success. This builds their confidence about being an entrepreneur.”
Creating more entrepreneurs means planting the seed early that being an entrepreneur is something youth should consider and desire, Smith said. He hopes that repeat participants will learn key skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur.
To learn more about Kidovate, go to kidovate.ca.
cjwilson@timescolonist.com
