Hosted by
Sarah Taylor
🗓️ Started hosting in 2019
🚀 Has hosted 1 fair
Acton Children's Business Fair Oklahoma City, OK
Saturday, March 28, 2020
11:00AM - 4:00PM
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About the fair
This event is held to provide the opportunity for kids and youth to launch their very own startup businesses!
Kids develop a brand, create a product or service, build a marketing strategy, and then open for customers at our one-day marketplace.
We will host 40 booths at the 1st annual event during our Kids Fest event to be held Mar. 28, 2020 at Cox Convention Center in downtown OKC.
This event is hosted by MetroFamily Magazine and Girl Scouts Western Oklahoma and sponsored by Acton Academy, the Acton School of Business, with 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 Bill Gates 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. We hope the participants at our Children's Business Fair will be the next generation of entrepreneurs contributing to Oklahoma City!
Hosted by
Sarah Taylor
🗓️ Started hosting in 2019
🚀 Has hosted 1 fair
Frequently asked questions
What is the Acton Children’s Business Fair?
The Acton Children’s Business Fair hosted by MetroFamily & Girls Scouts Western Oklahoma 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 40 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.
Since we are limited on space, we may have to curate the entries from the total number of entries. Everyone that applies may not be accepted for the show. We will look at ages and kind of business and try to balance the show to have a variety of each. We will let everyone know the exhibitors that were chosen a few days after the application deadline.
Since we are limited on space, we may have to curate the entries from the total number of entries. Everyone that applies may not be accepted for the show. We will look at ages and kind of business and try to balance the show to have a variety of each. We will let everyone know the exhibitors that were chosen a few days after the application deadline.
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?
We will be curating the show if we have more submissions than we have room. We will be as fair as possible and still allow for diversity in age and products sold. There may be instances that there will be the same kind of product sold by two booths and that's okay!
How will the fair be set up?
The fair will be held during MetroFamily's Kids Fest event, an event that typically draws thousands of families. Each exhibitor will get a table and space around it plus one chair. Electricity will be available but it will cost because Cox Convention Center charges a fee (around $65). If you need electricity, please contact sarah@metrofamilymagazine.com far in advance of the show and at least by Feb. 25, 2020. Exhibitors will have to bring their own extension cords.
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.
