The Acton Children’s Business Fair inspires children to discover their inner entrepreneur. The largest entrepreneurship event for kids in North America, this one-day market gives children the opportunity to showcase their very own businesses.

Application must be submitted online. Please submit one application for each business/table. Children working as a group should submit one application that includes each child’s information. No more than 3 participants per business.

The application asks children to think through some simple, but important elements of their business:

What product or service do you plan to sell?
What price will you charge for each product/service? How much will each product/service cost you?
How will you pay for your startup costs? If someone is helping you with your startup costs, how will you pay that person back?
How will you advertise/market your business before the fair?
At the end of the fair, how will you determine if your business was a success?

Yes, feel free to make whatever changes you want to products and pricing. Your parents may try to give you advice on what to sell and how much you should charge. The business fair is a learning experience. You will make mistakes. You may lose your money. You may price things too high or too low. It's OK.
How will I know if I am successful?
Of course your goal is to make some money at the fair. If you lose money, it is OK. It is a learning experience. You can do some extra jobs to pay back your parents.

Two cupcake businesses? Not a problem. In general, we will let market forces play out, though we will let later entries know if another applicant has a similar idea so the later entrant can decide what to do.

This event is designed to give children the experience of selling a product or service. If a parent is found selling or promoting a child’s product or service, the child and parent will be asked to leave. They can be a spectator. No parents should be helping at the booth or sales in any way. The child will have the greatest experience doing everything alone.

Parents of children younger than 8 may sit in the booth, but the children should be responsible for set up, customer interaction, and sales.

Parents may help their child fill out the application, but we expect the children to do as much as possible by themselves.

Jeff and Laura Sandefer and a few other families wanted to spark a sense of wonder and entrepreneurship in their children so they created the first Acton Children’s Business Fair in Austin, Texas, in 2007. That year, there were seven entrepreneurs and around 25 attendees. Now, there are over 115 entrepreneurs and 1,500 attendees at the Acton Children's Business Fair in Austin.