March has arrived!
In Metro RVA, March signifies the approach of Spring, Spring Break, NCAA championships, and the official sale of Flying Squirrel tickets!
However, what many may not know is that March is also the unofficial month dedicated to youth entrepreneurship in Metro RVA. A month when local youth congregate together in various marketplaces around the city, selling their own products and services.
This all began with a need to offer youth entrepreneur opportunities in the city.
The first annual Richmond Children's Business Fair occurred on March 10th, 2018, through a collaboration of organizations including Metro RVA Teens LLC, NDUGU Business & Leadership Academy, and My Brother's Keeper of Greater Richmond. This was the first mainstream youth entrepreneurship event of this kind in the area. The event hosted 40 youth entrepreneurs from across the state, significantly exceeding the original limit of 25 participants. Additional space had to be rented to accommodate the surplus. The event also received a city-wide proclamation, declaring it Youth Entrepreneur Day.
This quickly became an annual tradition, attracting more youth participants and community supporters each year. Eventually, many organizations began hosting similar youth entrepreneur events at different times of the year, with some annual events occurring in the same month.
As one of the co-founders of The Richmond Children's Business Fair, it's amazing to witness how one event became the foundation of a movement that's greater than my colleagues and I ever imagined. I've watched kids as young as 5 years old grow up as successful teenpreneurs. I've also seen kids step away from running a business and become successful in other passions and hobbies.
Youth entrepreneurship is more than just running a business and making money. We're teaching youth how to become self-sufficient, how to provide for themselves and for their future families by using their talents. Even if a child decides not to pursue entrepreneurship in the future, the lessons taught can be applied regardless of the path they choose.
Almost 10 years later, youth entrepreneurship in RVA continues to thrive with so many opportunities for youth of all ages to start, build and grow their businesses!
Although, we don't have an official proclamation, we at Macaroni KID Richmond, hereby declare the month of March as Youth Entrepreneur Month!
And to kick off this month, we want to showcase some of the major youth entrepreneur events happening so we can uplift, celebrate and support the creativity and the hard work that our youth are pouring into their businesses.
Click on the links to learn more and/or register.
🪙Richmond Children's Business Fair's Youth Entrepreneurship Summit- March 8th
🪙Richmond Children's Business Fair- March 9th
🪙Midlothian Children's Business Fair- March 22nd
We will also feature youthpreneurs on our social media pages all month long! If you want to shoutout a youth or teen entrepreneur, email me at cjw@macaronikid.com.
🎉Happy Youth Entrepreneur Month!🎉
When visiting events and local businesses, be sure to tell them Macaroni KID Richmond sent you... and don't forget to tell all your friends!
Macaroni KID Richmond is a free local calendar, weekly newsletter and website focused on family-friendly events and information for the Richmond City, Henrico and Hanover Counties. We gather all the local family-friendly events and activities we can find and add useful information about classes, family-focused businesses, book and product reviews, recipes, crafts, school and camp guides and more! Subscribe so you don't miss out on any of the fun!
