The Acton Children’s Business Fair inspires kids/teens 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.

Start with our resources page. Read inspiring stories about other young entrepreneurs and play games to hone your business skills.

An 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.

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?

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

The fair will be an indoor event with tables set up. Each business will be given one 6-foot table and 1-2 chairs. Table cloths will not be provided.

We may be able to accommodate businesses requiring electricity let us know in advance.

This event is designed to give kids/teens the experience of selling a product or service. It is discouraged for parents to primarily sell or promote a child’s product or service, their child’s business will lose points from the competition.

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

Parents may help their children fill out the application and setup it up if needed 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.