Starting young: Teaching kids to start own business

MANILA, Philippines – School is out and summer vacation has officially started. A lot of kids have joined summer camps and classes while a handful stayed at home to enjoy the vacation.

From tot to teen, a kid with too much time on his hands can zap the life out of sunny days and starry nights. If the first day of school cannot come soon enough and nothing is done, adults can take steps to put energy back into summer.

A summer job is a wonderful idea to keep the kids busy during the vacation. But aside from getting summer jobs, kids can also venture into business and become entrepreneurs themselves while school is out.

Inspired by the strong growth of the economy, there is an increasing trend of parents encouraging their kids to participate in business workshops or bazaars. 

While the usual lemonade, homemade ice candy, or ice buko stands no longer top the list for summer money-making schemes, there are lots of ways to bring home the bacon.

Such is the story of the Juantrepreneurs, a group established by six Juan cousins namely Maxine, Elias, Francine, Carrine, Roque and Max Juan. The kids come from a family of entrepreneurs; their aunt, Ros Juan, is an entrepreneur herself.

These kids started their journey towards entrepreneurship in December 2011 by joining the Kiddo-preneur Bazaar held at the Rockwell Clubhouse. They sold entrep kiddie kits, do-it-yourself cookies, Jeep ni Juan books, and bracelets. For their business stint, the Juantrepreneurs were declared the winner of the "Best in Service" award at the end of the bazaar.

They will be back again at this year’s Kiddo-preneur  Bazaar, this year at the Tents @ Alphaland Southgate Mall, and will be selling Zen natural and organic products. The kids chose Zen products because they know that the mommies and daddies will be interested in these all natural and organic products.

They will also sell their best selling product in the previous bazaar, the Entrep Piggy Bank, a coin and money bank that teaches kids how to manage their money efficiently by allocating certain portions into savings, investments, donations, and allowable expenditures.

Join the Kiddo-preneur Bazaar on April 14 at the Tents @ Alphaland Southgate Mall. It is a whole day event where parents can teach their kids a thing or two about financial literacy by demonstrating important money management basics. With little supervision from adults, help your child establish his/her own booth, manage it and observe how simple financial ideas apply in real life. (philstar.com)