Teaching kids about being an entrepreneur with the help of some lemonade

Each year, children across the country participate in Lemonade Day and become budding entrepreneurs with Community Futures. Michelle Jones, Executive Director of Community Futures Yellowhead East, said that in the Northern Alberta region, over 900 participants were registered to set up shop on Lemonade Day. “In the Yellowhead East region, that equates to about 30 to 40 lemonade stands which we are very impressed with knowing we are just coming out of COVID and not everybody’s comfort level is back to where it has been in the past. We are very pleased with the turnout.”

The idea behind Lemonade Day is to teach youth about entrepreneurship by developing several skills they would utilize regardless. “It’s about budgeting and learning how to earn, save, and share money. They learn skills that any entrepreneur would, and by learning them, they then implement them in their own business through a lemonade stand,” explained Jones.

She said that teaching youth about becoming an entrepreneur should be taught right from day one in school. “I think it’s important that we start introducing entrepreneurship as an option from the moment kids enter school. Many kids already have those skills long before an adult might recognize that they do. If they are introduced to the concepts and ideas right from the get-go, it can become one of those options for youth as they carry on in school and go on to further education.”

Part of Lemonade Day includes each participant donating a portion of their profits, and where they donate is entirely up to them. “I love hearing about who they will save, spend, and share with, particularly the sharing part. It’s a great opportunity for an entrepreneur because they get to decide all on their own who they want to share with and how much they want to share. It turns out to be a big point for some of these kids, and they are very proud of that. It makes me proud too,” said Jones.

Participants create their recipe, learn how to market it, get a business license, and need to have a Food and Safety Handing Certificate displayed at the booth. The tools they learn throughout the process are substantial but fun. “In addition to the money they will make at their lemonade booth, they also have the opportunity to, once properly trained, qualify for an award,” explained Jones. There are three awards: Best Tasting Lemonade, the Best Lemonade Stand, and Local Entrepreneur of the Year.

“If they are chosen and awarded as the winner, they will each get a huge ribbon that they can proudly display on their stand and a $100 gift card for each of those awards. From there, participants are encouraged to upload their information to the national website once they’ve completed Lemonade Day and know their profits and loss. Their name could be entered into a regional draw for the Regional Entrepreneur of the Year. From there, they could even move on to a national prize draw from across Canada.”

The winning stand in Whitecourt was Lovely Lemonade, set up at IGA by eight-year-old Zoey Wall. She worked hard and won three ribbons. “I did not know I was going to win! I thought the others were going to win. I did not believe in myself there.” When asked how she feels now that she won, Wall said she feels differently. “I learned that you should always have confidence in yourself, even just a little bit.” She set up her table at IGA because of the Saturday foot traffic and because she could hop inside the store if she needed supplies.

Wall initially won the Best Tasting Lemonade ribbon a couple of weeks back and had it proudly displayed on her well-decorated stand. When she was presented with two more ribbons, Best Stand Winner and Area Entrepreneur of the Year, Wall was speechless and excited to get her newest ribbons up for her customers to see.

An extra-special part of the day for Wall was when the mother of Grande Prairie-born country superstar Tenille Townes popped in to say hello. “She has an album that’s called The Lemonade Stand. Everyone should go check out that album because it’s really good. It was nice to meet her mom.” Townes’s mom had tried to reach her daughter through Facetime to say hello to Wall, but she was busy on the road and couldn’t answer at that time. “I also got to meet someone else who’s famous, Martin Long. He works for the government as our MLA.”

Wall said she learned a lot through Lemonade Day and encourages other kids to try it next year. She plans to continue having lemonade stands throughout the summer now that she is trained to run her business. Wall’s goal is to purchase vlogging equipment, and she will be sharing some of her profits with WHARF (Whitecourt Homeless Animal Rescue Foundation) to help the animals they save.

For her mom, Diana, watching her daughter receive the ribbons was the icing on the cake. “This project has been wonderful. I love getting to see the creativity that she comes up with. She’s been a huge part of every piece, from getting the business permits and the lease agreement, talking to the managers here at IGA, building the stand, painting the crates, and greeting people. It has been very nice to see her come out of her shell. I enjoyed the entire process, and I’m so proud of her. She has done an awesome job!”

For Wall, getting to bring some joy to her customers was the best part of the day. “It makes other people happy, and their joy comes into my heart. Then, I feel happy with a whole heart full of joy afterwards.”