Monday, July 28, 2014
Town of Ingersoll - Fusion Youth Centre
Youth Business Challenge Summer Camp: Developing our Young Entrepreneurs
To be a successful young entrepreneur you need passion, creativity and commitment to develop a business idea. Many youth driven creative business ideas were displayed at the Ingersoll Kiwanis Market on Saturday, July 19, 2014 as a result of SureStart’s Business Idea Challenge Camp.
A group of ten youth, aged 12 -14, participated in a Business Idea Challenge Camp at the Fusion Youth Centre from July 14 – 19, 2014 learning what it means to be an entrepreneur and developing their own business ideas for the week. Youth spent five days developing aspects of a business plan with the help of SureStart staff and a number of guest speakers including Allan Simm from Oxford Small Business Support Centre. Each team had to hand in a complete business plan prior to attending the Ingersoll Kiwanis Market on Saturday as well as present their idea in a ‘Dragons’s Den’ style format to a number of judges including Jim Brady, Oxford O.P.P.
Each business team was given a loan of up to $20 to create their products; anything sold above and beyond this at the Ingersoll Kiwanis Market was theirs to keep. Amongst the groups, a total of $284 was made in profit on Saturday and many of the groups sold out of the products they took to the Market.
Product ideas ranged and included: duct tape wallets; old records melted to form bowls; iconic music legend coasters; tie dyed headbands and bandanas; homemade cards; simple cook books for youth to use when they’re home alone; lemonade; and popcorn.
One of the groups even included a social aspect to their business. From every tie dyed headband or bandana sold, $1.00 of the sale was donated to the Heart and Stroke Foundation. By the end of the market, over $37.00 was collected to donate to the chosen charity.
Fusion would like to thank everyone that was involved in the camp including all guest speakers and those who came to the market to show their support.
SureStart will be hosting a second week of Business Challenge Camp August 11- 16, 2014. Youth aged 12-14 are encouraged to sign up early as registration is limited.
For more information on camp registration and the upcoming session, please visit www.FusionYouthCentre.ca or contact SureStart program staff.
Quotes:
“It’s definitely something that you want to come to. It is a really great experience for youth who want to be entrepreneurs when they grow up, plus you can make money!”
— Nick Muirhead, youth participant aged 13
“I like the idea of owning your own business. We’re going to continue with our bandanas and I want to come back again next year.”
— Alyssa Blancher, youth participant
“The SureStart program has been funded by the Ontario Trillium Foundation to reach youth aged 12-24; by offering this camp we can reach our younger targeted age in an engaging, yet educational way. It was amazing to see all these young entrepreneurs develop such creative business ideas. I am so unbelievably proud of everything they accomplished this week and I cannot thank those who helped make this happen enough.”
— Bailey Scott, SureStart Program Staff at the Fusion Youth Centre
“There is no better way to build the local economy then to invest time and training into your young people! Congratulations to the 10 young people who developed their business plans and successfully executed them. Each one of them should be proud of their accomplishments. These will be our next generation of entrepreneurial leaders in Oxford County!”
— Jason Smith, Manager at the Fusion Youth Centre
Media Contact:
Heather Haldane
Interim SureStart Program Coordinator
Fusion Youth Activity and Technology Centre
Cell: 519-204-2630
hhaldane@ingersoll.ca
Jason Smith
Manager
Fusion Youth Activity and Technology Centre
Cell: 226-268-0064
jsmith@ingersoll.ca
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