GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — One local non-profit is showing that you’re never too young when it comes to entrepreneurship. The Children's Holiday Business Fair, put on by Solid Foundation Learning, gives children interested in business the opportunity to sell their own products.
“There is actually a starter kit where kids get some ideas for coming up with products, start thinking about pricing and start to think about how am I going to pay the bank - grandma, grandpa, mom, dad - back after the day of the fair,” said Solid Foundation Learning founder Denise McFarlin.
There will be about 20 different booths at the fair this Saturday, December 11th. The kids treat it like a real business, handling everything from product design to marketing and sales. Solid Foundation Learning helps kids develop a brand, create a product or service, build a marketing strategy, and then sell to customers at the fair.
11-year-old Ciri and 9-year-old Kane Schramm will be two of the young vendors at this week's fair. The siblings came up with the idea to make handmade soap at the start of the pandemic to emphasize the importance of washing your hands.
“It was during lockdown that we started. We’ve been going for about a year and a half," Kane said.
"We were getting really dry and cracked hands and we wanted a soap that would work better,” Ciri said.
Other products at this week's fair include hot chocolate kits complete with marshmallows and candy canes made by 7-year-old Helena and Madison Franklin and handmade jewelry made by 11-year-old Sophia Hermann.
While the fair has taken place for the last four years, this is the first year the Greater Green Bay Chamber has hosted it at the Urban Hub downtown.
“The urban hub is a space that was really created in partnership with Brown County and base companies," said Eric Vandenhuevel, the vice president of talent and education. "The chamber operates the space to help businesses grow and succeed and to help those early young entrepreneurs get their businesses off the ground.”
For many of these young entrepreneurs, this is their first experience in sales and they’re excited to hopefully find a new clientele.
The Children's Holiday Business Fair will take place from 11:00 a.m - 2:00 p.m Saturday at the Urban Hub, located at 340 N Broadway.
