The Greenfields Children’s Business Fair inspires children to discover their inner entrepreneur. This one-day market gives children the opportunity to showcase their very own businesses.

Start with this page of resources (https://www.childrensbusinessfair.org/resources). Here you can read inspiring stories about other young entrepreneurs, find a guide for creating a business plan, and play games to hone your business skills.

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.

There is a $20 fee for each participating business, to help cover the event costs. This should be calculated into the profit and loss! There is no cost for people to come shop at the fair.

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 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.

The fair will be an indoor event in several interconnected rooms. Each business will be given table space (approx 4' wide) and 1-2 chairs. Table cloths will not be provided.

We have very limited access to electricity at the booths. Apply early and let us know you need this and we will try our best.

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 near the booth, but the children should be fully 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, the concept has spread and there are over 100 Children's Business Fairs globally. As a member of the Acton School Network, Greenfields Academy has been hosting Children's Business Fairs in Chicago for the past 5 years.