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Youngsters launch micro-businesses

About 25 South Surrey students sold their products at Semiahmoo Shopping Centre last weekend.
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Colbie Costa

After spending 15-weeks of building businesses, a group of young South Surrey students were rewarded for their hard work.

About 25 students, aged seven to 15, spent the past 15 weeks pitching, financing, marketing and creating a micro-business with guidance from Young Entrepreneur Learning Labs.

Last weekend, the students set up booths at Semiahmoo Shopping Centre to sell their wares. The products, which came from their imagination or with help from their mentors, included duct-tape wallets, designed coffee mugs, cupcake-shaped candles, custom ‘dino’ soaps, picture frames, melted-crayon art, shrunken chip bag art and wind chimes.

Tressa Wood, founder of the South Surrey-based learning labs, says the children were well-prepared for the event and weren’t intimidated by customers or TV cameras questioning their business.

“They gave interviews to people, it was awesome. I thought they would be shocked. It’s one thing to sell to customers but it’s another thing to have a camera in your face. They were really good,” she said.

The students will meet one more time to conclude the 16-week program. At the final meeting, students and mentors will go over what worked, what didn’t work and profits.

“They figure out how much they made and what their profit was. They had already done a budget on what they were going to spend, share, save. Some are donating a bit to charity. Some might be paying their parents back, like an investment, or if they borrowed money for supplies,” Wood said. “My daughter is investing hers into her next business materials. You need to buy everything yourself, she’s saving her money for that.

“Then we have a celebration – we work hard and play hard.”

More information on the program can be found at www.yelearninglabs.com



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