Lemonade stands? These young entrepreneurs have even bigger ideas

A device that is carried by oil tankers to clean up a spill the moment it happens (above), a recreational boat that is fuelled by solar and hydro power, and a fire detector that is set on top of trees to detect a wildfire instantaneously — these were just a few of the final projects that were pitched to parents at the end of the week-long Young Entrepreneurs camp. These are big ideas — especially when you consider that the camp is for students going into Grades 4 to 6 and those entering Grades 7 to 9.

The prototypes are impressive — a colourful display of found materials to convey the design that would address problems in the environment. The aim of the camp was not to create a final product — but the learning behind it.

“They began to see the importance of learning about money and realized that business can be incorporated in a fun way,” says Emma Merlo, third-year Haskayne School of Business student. Merlo and fellow UCalgary student Arshia Amali created the content for the camp in partnership with an advisory committee from the Haskayne School of Business.

Over the five days of the camp, participants learn entrepreneurial thinking concepts — innovation, design thinking and business modelling. To learn more about the resources available to entrepreneurs, campers take a mid-week field trip to the Alberta Treasury Branch Calgary Entrepreneur Centre.

“I've been thinking about this for a number of years and I really wanted the younger generation to learn about money management,” says Sharaz Khan, business and technology management instructor at the Haskayne School of Business. “I thought, why not open it up to young people in our community and make it a fun camp. So I approached UCalgary Active Living and they were a delight to work with.”

“With the younger students, we do more hands-on activities such as making piggy banks and prototyping,” says Nick Richard, a second-year student at the Ivey Business School, who is also leading the camps. “With the older groups, we do more technology-based applications such as introductions to investing and coding, which last the duration of the week.”

Similar to the tradition of gathering around the campfire at the close of camp, these young innovators come together in the Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking at the heart of the UCalgary campus. The Hunter Hub is a place where students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members can come, year-round, for entrepreneurial thinking programming. Instead of sharing ghost stories, they share the big ideas they were working to develop, and the knowledge of community resources to help mobilize these ideas.

“Initially we were concerned that some students would be nervous about presenting their project ideas to the parents at the Hunter Hub; however, the response was positive and all the students wanted to show off their ideas,” says Amali of his experience in igniting entrepreneurial thinking. “We were all proud of what they created.”