Business Beat: Youth entrepreneurs resilient, adaptable and optimistic
By Michael Harrington on August 4, 2021.
Community Futures Entre-Corp supports all flavors of entrepreneurs, but the smile that crosses Entrepreneur Advisor Pat Guist’s face when she talks about youth entrepreneurs belies her otherwise diplomatic facade. She loves working with youth. And why not? Their infectious enthusiasm, limitless potential and glass-half-full attitude is refreshing. You may have noticed the increased number of businesses that launched during the pandemic. Many businesses closed, instigating folks to make their own job. Some pivoted online. Some went with a hybrid model. Change is the only constant, and few are more comfortable with change than kids. They are resilient, adaptable, and optimistic. It’s never too early for young people to scratch that entrepreneurial itch, and we find that once they tap into that builder personality, they sometimes become serial entrepreneurs. Elon Musk sold his first invention at 12 years old. Redcliff’s Shay North turned her passion for baking into a Youtube channel, Facebook page “True North Kitchen” where she takes orders, and desires to one day open her own bakery. As a tyke, Larson Lang was selling lemonade and candies. Now he’s running Avara Landscaping and property care. Kids’ lemonade stands have popped up in greater numbers in this blazing hot summer. Lightning can strike when a young person’s innate creative drive is nurtured, married to a technical skill and then leveraged with business education and experience. As parents we all want our children to find a rewarding educational and professional path, and it’s more likely that they will go on to higher education, where they are more likely to excel when they are driving toward a clear goal. Musk’s first invention was a game that he coded. He got the inventor bug, and now Tesla is having a revolutionary impact on society and putting civilians in space. Perhaps our kids won’t become one of the richest people on the planet, but we do hope they find a fulfilling, rewarding career path. That seed can be planted at our Rotary Youth Entrepreneurship Camp. Although we’ve had to convert the last two Rotary Youth Entrepreneurship Camps to a virtual format due to the pandemic, we are currently highlighting some of these youngsters’ ideas in the YXH Marketplace online market. We encourage you to watch that space and show tomorrow’s local business leaders some love on our social media, and in sales, where you can. If you are a young person with that builder mentality, we encourage you to enrol in next summer’s entrepreneurship camp at Eagle’s Nest Ranch, where you will learn to work in teams, collaborate on product development, prepare a business plan, and present that plan to bankers and potential investors. It’s even sponsored by the federal government through Community Futures, so there is no cost to our future business leaders. Michael Harrington is Community Economic Development Officer at Community Futures Entre-Corp 12-11
