How do we prepare our kids to grow up resilient to the economic challenges we are experiencing today and that will be an inevitable part of their futures?
According to the Oxford Economics Papers, quantum computing and AI-related innovations are predicted to hit their peak impact in 2035, and our kids need to be ready to ride the wave.
One way to help prepare them is to teach them how to deal with ambiguity and uncertainty by thinking entrepreneurially.
The focus of entrepreneurship is creating new value. Creating economic, social and environmental value is likely to be hallmark skill for new employees entering tomorrow’s workforce. But how can young people in our Greater Victoria region get the necessary hands-on experience in creating new value?
Kidovate
An initiative program offered by the University of Victoria has made this easier than ever. The Gustavson School of Business has created Kidovate, a free youth entrepreneurship experience that helps kids start micro-businesses.
Using a graphic workbook, middle school and high school students walk through how to find an idea, create a product concept, price and package their product, and sell their product at a one-day market.
“To date, over 400 local youth have participated in Kidovate and we expect 2025 to be the biggest year yet,” says Kidovate cofounder and UVIC entrepreneurship professor Brock Smith.
“For Market Day 2025 on April 5, we’ll fill all three levels of the Victoria Bay Centre with youth entrepreneurs selling everything from jewelry they have made, to plants they’ve grown and wooden trays they’ve crafted. The variety of micro-businesses that are started is incredible, and the takeaway learning is immense.”
How can you help?
Visit the next Kidovate Market Day and encourage these young entrepreneurs with a kind word of encouragement or a cash purchase. It is a wonderful opportunity to show your kids what it might be like to be an entrepreneur, and how to support entrepreneurship in our community—support that is more important than ever.
The learning is in the doing. And there cannot be a full learning cycle without customers. By having to think through the many decisions that go into creating something that others value, Kidovate youth are challenged to think critically and to solve problems.
Producing products and selling them at Kidovate Market Day is filled with unknowns. Through Kidovate, young people get to face uncertainty and push past it. Whether students sell 20 items or 200 items, interacting with customers to make a sale encourages self-reliance and determination.
“Through the experience of creating something that a customer values enough to buy, students have had to work through a complex number of decisions and failures too,” says Kidovate cofounder and UVIC business professor Claudia Smith.
“Kidovate, by its very nature, builds their resilience muscle mass. There is no straight line in entrepreneurship, it is always a series of iterations and pivots. These are critical skills for students to learn early—that and perseverance.”
If your child is interested in joining Kidovate next year, visit kidovate.ca.
