Around 150 Grade 10 students from Norwell District Secondary School, Westside Secondary School, Centre Dufferin District High School and Centre Wellington District High School attended an entrepreneurship boot camp in Elora last fall to learn what it takes to start and run a business.
Funded by a Ministry of Education initiative that supports community partnership and mentorship, the students worked in small groups to develop an informal business plan that also included research on their potential customer base and product prototyping.
The day culminated with the group doing elevator pitches to each other in preparation for going back to their schools where they would formalize and submit a business application to receive SEED funding to put their proposals into action.
"During the course of this project I not only learned about how to properly run and manage the operations of a small business but the importance of teamwork. I learned about how much your ability to maintain an open mindset when collaborating with your team really matters," one student said about the experience.”
A total of 26 business proposals came in that students continued to build on throughout the semester at their respective schools.
"This was a great opportunity for students to engage in an entrepreneurial experience in a relatively risk free way. Most students genuinely appreciated the opportunity," Heather Walker, program lead for business at the UGDSB added.
The students were able to get real-world experience with budgeting and sourcing of goods, the different roles played within the running of a successful business, the training required, and regulations around safety, among other things.