Kids created their own businesses and are selling their products at a free event on Saturday
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IDAHO FALLS -— Kids around eastern Idaho are putting their entrepreneurship skills to the test Saturday during a free event where they will be selling their own self-created business products.
“I was so incredibly impressed with their talent. They were eager to learn,” said Tiffany Versey, a parent mentor at iFamily Leadership Academy.
iFamily Leadership Academy is a nonprofit organization in Idaho Falls. Versey explained it’s a homeschool cooperative that meets once a week where parents offer various courses to kids of all ages. Versey said she taught a budget and business course for students ages 12 to 18 using Dave Ramsey Foundations for a total of 12 weeks.
“Some of them (the kids) came not quite knowing what to expect or what they would get out of the class but as we talked about budgeting and then started to talk about business plans and entrepreneurship, they had so many great ideas,” she said. “In our class, they had to do presentations of what they were going to sell. So they had to stand up and share with everyone what their goals were, what they were selling and why they decided on that price, and how long it took them to do it.”
Around 20 students created business plans from the class and will put what they have learned into action. The youth-led event is happening on Saturday at the Bonneville County Fairgrounds, next to Sandy Downs from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. The kids will be collecting the money that they earn.
“They each have their own individual business plan so they might invest a little bit more into their business, try to keep their business going whether it becomes an online market or they continue to sell,” said Versey. “They are going to do savings for college, savings for cars. That’s kind of what we taught in our class is, you save a chunk of it and part of it you invest back into your business so what they actually do with what they earn, that’s up to them but they’ve been given the tools to continue to grow their business.”
Versey told EastIdahoNews.com that anyone who comes to the event will find everything from painted shoes, gourmet hot chocolate, cocoa bombs, cake pops, cookie dough, metal forging, wood-burning, macrame, wood crafting and much more.
“If you are looking for employee gifts or stocking stuffers or just some yummy holiday treats, crafts, you’ll find it all and it is high quality. They have put in a lot of effort,” she said.
Versey said this is the first year they have done this event and she hopes it will continue.
“I would love to make this a tradition. Hopefully, as we do that, we will have more youth from the community join us,” she said.
