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Preparation week 1: June 14-18
Pitch Competition July 1st @ 5:30 PM
Preparation week 2: July 26-30
Acton Children's Business Fair Bozeman, MT
Saturday, July 31, 2021
9:00AM - 12:00PM
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About the fair
Observe the opportunity for children to launch their very own startup business!
Kids develop a brand, create a product or service, build a marketing strategy, and then open for customers at our one-day marketplace.
We are offering two weeks of preparation where your young entrepreneurs can cultivate their ideas into a real, tangible, product or service! These weeks are June 14-18 and July 26-30.
The first week is dedicated to discovering your business, planning and developing your idea, and giving you tools to create over the next few weeks of summer before we meet again the week before the event. We will do semi-regular check-ins with the entrepreneurs to see how their progress is coming leading up to prep week two.
On July 1st at 5:30 PM, we will have a Pitch Competition to earn Start-Up money for your business. Your entrepreneur will pitch their ideas to parents and a panel of entrepreneurial judges. The hope is for parents to invest in their child's business as well as for the young entrepreneurs to aww the judges and win a minimum of $100 to go toward their business.
We are offering two weeks of preparation where your young entrepreneurs can cultivate their ideas into a real, tangible, product or service! These weeks are June 14-18 and July 26-30.
The first week is dedicated to discovering your business, planning and developing your idea, and giving you tools to create over the next few weeks of summer before we meet again the week before the event. We will do semi-regular check-ins with the entrepreneurs to see how their progress is coming leading up to prep week two.
On July 1st at 5:30 PM, we will have a Pitch Competition to earn Start-Up money for your business. Your entrepreneur will pitch their ideas to parents and a panel of entrepreneurial judges. The hope is for parents to invest in their child's business as well as for the young entrepreneurs to aww the judges and win a minimum of $100 to go toward their business.
The second week will prepare you for the business fair in finalizing your product or service, designing your booth, and giving you practice time to pitch your business to potential customers!
Register Today!
We will host 10 booths at the 1st annual event in Bozeman, MT on July 31st from 9 am-12 pm.
This event is sponsored by Acton Academy, the Acton School of Business, and the generous support of our donors and volunteers. We all believe that principled entrepreneurs are heroes and role models for the next generation.
Whether an entrepreneur is famous like Elon Musk or Oprah Winfrey or they are one of the thousands of unsung business owners across this country, these are the people who make sacrifices to innovate, create jobs and serve their communities.
Hosted by
Jessica Dehn
🗓️ Started hosting in 2021
✅ Identity verified
🚀 Has hosted 2 fairs
We are a team of passionate entrepreneurs, teachers, mentors, and parents, who want our children to learn about entrepreneurship in a practical and fun way.
9 booths participating
To be determined...
KNT Lures
And 7 others.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Acton Children’s Business Fair?
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.
How many businesses will you accept?
We will accept up to 20 businesses.
Where should I begin?
Start with our resources page. Read inspiring stories about other young entrepreneurs and play games to hone your business skills.
How do I apply? Can I apply as part of a group?
Application must be submitted online. Please submit one application for each business. Children working as a group should submit one application that includes each child’s information. No more than 3 participants per business.
What is on the application?
The application asks kids 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?
What if someone else has the same business idea?
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.
How will the fair be set up?
The fair will be a outdoor event with booths. Each business will be given a booth with an 8-foot table (to share with one other business), full-cover tenting, and 1-2 chairs. Table cloths will not be provided. We are not able to accommodate businesses requiring electricity.
Will electricity be available?
Unfortunately, we are not able to provide electricity to the booths.
What are the rules?
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, their child’s business will be disqualified from the competition.
Parents of younger children 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.
How did the Acton Children’s Business Fair get started?
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.
