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?
This depends on the size of the location for our inaugural event.
Where should I begin?
Start with our resources page. Read inspiring stories about other young entrepreneurs and play games to hone your business skills.
Is there any training or a workshop to help my child prepare?
Yes. WingSpace, LLC. and Transformational Opportunities, Inc. foundation offer a 5 week program. The WingSpace Biz Camp (Entrepreneurship Workshop) starts in September 2018. The workshop is taught by members of WingSpace Coworking who volunteer their time 1-hour a week for 5 weeks to prepare the children to participate in the Children's Business Fair in Oct. The location and dates of the 5 week program will be announce in the Spring of 2018. This will give interested children the entire summer break to consider and prepare their products and or services that they want to focus on for their business.
If you are interested in being a volunteer for the workshops please contact us at cowork@wingspace.biz
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?
We have not determined the location for this inaugural event, so depending on the location we will keep you updated.
Will electricity be available?
Depends on the location
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 Prescott 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 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. They now sponsor children's business fairs across the country like the Prescott Valley Children's Business Fair.
