Young entrepreneurs display business savvy

Young entrepreneurs were celebrated at Community Futures Westman’s annual Children’s Business Fair at the Riverbank Discovery Centre on Saturday.

The event featured 23 vendor booths representing 31 children between the ages of five and 15, with participants selling products ranging from crocheted plush toys and handmade handbags to freeze-dried snacks and Mexican treats.

Six of them were recognized and rewarded for their creativity, salesmanship and business potential, smiling to the bank with a $100 reward each.

Riya Belcher received the Best Young Entrepreneur award for her business, Riya Crocheted Cuddles. Matias Tapia and Mateo Zendejas were named winners of the Best Sales Pitch category for their booth featuring Mexican popsicles and mangonadas.

Liam Prudnikov earned the Highest Business Potential award for his freeze-dried foods business, while Kaylin Kropp received the Judges’ Choice award for KiKae’s Earrings. Kavyaa Gandhi won the Most Innovative award for Sunset Carry Handbags, a business that creates purses from pipe cleaners.

Belcher said the recognition was especially meaningful because she has been developing the idea for several years.

“It means a lot to me,” she told the Sun. “I’ve been working on this business idea for a couple of years now. It’s been my passion for a while, and I work very hard.”

The student, who is entering Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School this fall, sells crocheted plushies, keychains, hats and coffee sleeves. She said she first learned to crochet through YouTube tutorials after becoming impatient waiting for a teacher to learn the craft herself.

Belcher already operates a Facebook page and sells products through Marketplace, and said the experience has taught her valuable business skills.

“I’ve learned how to manage money, social media, business and marketing,” she said. “It’s such a fun activity to do. I would highly recommend it to anybody who’s bored at home — it’s way better than just scrolling all day.”

Gandhi, who is heading to Vincent Massey High School, said each pipe-cleaner purse can take many hours to complete and that the idea was inspired by relatives involved in business and by trends she learned about through family members in Singapore.

“I’m very happy that I won,” she said. “I have never seen anything like pipe-cleaner flower purses in Brandon.”

She said she spent months planning the venture and intends to continue operating the business beyond the fair by accepting custom and birthday-party orders.

For brothers Mateo Zendejas and Matias Tapia, the fair was their first time participating. The family moved to Brandon from Mexico in 2024, and the pair said they wanted to introduce local customers to flavours that are less common in Canada.

“People love it because it’s from another country, and they want to try something different,” Mateo said.

The brothers estimated they sold about $80 worth of products during the event and are already planning to return next year with additional offerings such as lemonade and iced tea.

Community Futures Westman executive director Bill Hogan said the fair has expanded steadily since it began four years ago.

“The first year we only had seven vendors. The second year we had 10, last year we had 20 and this year 27 signed up,” Hogan said.

Although a few registrants were unable to attend, the event ultimately featured 23 vendor booths representing 31 children. Hogan said the goal is not simply to sell products for a day, but to help young people see entrepreneurship as a viable career path.

“We’re trying to teach them some entrepreneurship skills and encourage them to think of business as a career choice rather than a fallback plan if they can’t find a job,” he said.

This year organizers also created promotional videos featuring the children and their business ideas before the event to help build public awareness and encourage attendance.

Hogan said organizers are exploring the creation of a Facebook community where participants can share ideas, marketing tips and lessons learned with one another.

“We had some returnees, and they didn’t do the same thing every year, which is great to see,” he said. “They looked at what worked, what didn’t work and came back with new ideas. That’s exactly the kind of entrepreneurial thinking we want to encourage.”

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