YouthBiz is more popular than ever before, with budding entrepreneurs exploring business ownership!
The brainchild of Community Futures (CF) Sunrise, YouthBiz is a business competition that encourages young people in the southeast Saskatchewan region to consider entrepreneurship as a viable option for the future. This program has been working with schools, connecting to the business community and promoting entrepreneurship for the past 12 years. Over that time, close to 2,350 students have taken part in the contest and CF Sunrise has awarded $22,000 in prize money.
"This year, we've seen tremendous engagement by students and teacher in our region. There were 17 schools that integrated YouthBiz into their classes, and almost 400 students that sent in YouthBiz entries. There are so many creative, innovative business ideas presented by these young people, and of course there was a ton of learning along the way so a big shout-out goes to the teachers who mentored these students," says Verna O'Neill, general manager for CF Sunrise.
With business ideas ranging from beauty salons to high tech gaming companies, the students let their imaginations soar. "We had a number of young people who described businesses they are currently operating, so that was excellent to see." comments O'Neill.
And some of the comments from students were just as eye-opening as their business concepts:
- “We had so much fun doing the youthbiz project. Thanks for teaching us about business.” Cash, grade 6
- “While creating this business we learned a lot about how to create a business, what we need, and how much money it costs. But along the way we had a lot of fun. In the future we think we will think about starting a business of our own.” Rhielle and Marlee, grade 7
- “I enjoyed the career project I had a lot of fun doing it. I liked it because I had a lot of thinking what to do. I had some days were it got to hard but I never gave up.” Kendra, grade 6
This youth business program would not be possible without the support of generous sponsors: Weyburn Credit Union, Affinity Credit Union and SaskTel.