During the interactive, hands-on experience, the young entrepreneurs learned important skills such as product development, packaging, merchandising and turning a toy into a licensed product.
What do fishing lures, shopping trolleys and motivational quotes from rockstars have in common? They are all products created by Australia’s young entrepreneurs.
A national school-based entrepreneurship competition “the Kidpreneur Challenge” has awarded 30 primary school students from 9 to12, from Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia as this year’s Kidpreneurs of the Year.
The winning kidpreneurs travelled to Melbourne recently, during Global Entrepreneurship Week, where they spent a day as “Kidpreneurs-in-Residence,” getting a behind-the-scenes look at Moose Toy’s, Australia’s fourth largest toy company and the IGNITE partner of the Kidpreneur Challenge – an entrepreneurship business-building competition run by leading not-for-profit Club Kidpreneur Foundation.
During the interactive, hands-on experience, the young entrpreneurs learned important skills such as product development, packaging, merchandising and turning a toy into a licensed product. They heard from the company’s executives, product engineers and marketing team, and were surrounded by a two-story high Jack in the Beanstalk, a life-sized plane and toys as far as the eye can see.
Moose Toys Chairman and Co-CEO, and EY World Entrepreneur of the Year 2016, Many Stul, says a business experience that captures children’s imagination is what it’s all about.
“Moose Toys focuses on integrity, creating a culture of innovation and a clear purpose to make children happy. Club Kidpreneur aligns strongly with our company’s vision. What better way to empower and inspire kids than to connect them to the very people who created powerhouse brands such as Shopkins and Trash Pack, brands they know and love so much,” said Stul.
The Kidpreneur-in-Residence trip to Moose Toys was the grand prize experience for the winners of the Kidpreneur Challenge, which saw more 2000 Australian students raise $100,000 for charities in 2016 as a result of their own micro-businesses and entrepreneur projects. The winning schools also received a HP Inc Sprout All-in-One desktop computer, printer and 3D scanner, valued at almost $5000.
The Kidpreneur Challenge saw schools run the Club Kidpreneur Ready, Set, Go of Business program in schools where kids worked in teams of three to build a micro-business, sell products at market, donate profit to charity and pitch their business idea to entrepreneurs via video. Ten teams won.
The competition is the brain-child of not-for-profit social enterprise Club Kidpreneur Foundation, who has worked with 10,000 kids in 500 schools nationally over the past six years to teach entrepreneurship and business development skills to young children in a fun, engaging way.
Club Kidpreneur Chairman Tania Price said the Kidpreneur Challenge enabled kids to showcase and celebrate the creativity and ingenuity they have to offer in business.
“Kids are open-minded, creative and enthusiastic to learn more about business and making money. Entrepreneurship education is a critical ingredient for the 21st century learner if we are to prepare students for the future world of work. It’s important to nurture talent early as it is helping Australia’s next generation create sustainable future career paths of becoming producers not consumers,” she said.
“The Kidpreneur Challenge is about getting more kids into entrepreneurship in a way that empowers and engages them and gives them their first taste of business.
“We are greatly appreciative for the amazing real-world business experience our IGNITE partner Moose Toys offered the winning kidpreneurs, it certainly will be an experience of a lifetime,” she said.
The winning schools included:
- Queensland – Robertson State School and Springbrook State School
- New South Wales – Loreto Normanhurst, Coopernook Public School, Castle Cove Public School, Ben Venue Public School
- South Australia – Woodend Primary School
Inside Small Business
