From wooden pens to portable balls of hand sanitizer, the Children’s Business Fair allows children to show off and market their own creative talents.
The annual Children’s Business Fair is an event organized by the Maryville Public Library that offers entrepreneurs and business owners ages 8 through high school the chance to sell their products to the greater public. The fair events and planning began with an informational meeting Jan. 22 and will conclude March 21, the day of the official fair.
The event first took place in 2017, brought to life by Elizabeth Argo, the youth services coordinator at the Maryville Public Library. Argo said the scope of the event and its meetings covers the basics of running a business.
“The Children’s Business Fair is meant to be a chance for kids to run their own business,” Argo said. “We let them come up with an idea and create a product or service, create a business plan, think about marketing, all of those kinds of things; and then they go to a one-day marketplace where they get to earn profits and compete for prizes.”
With the vast age range of participants, business ideas can have an even wider range. Argo described various businesses she has seen over the years, varying from pens made from fallen wood, a shaved ice business and solid bars of sanitizer.
Some of the participating children are referred to as veteran entrepreneurs. This means they have been a part of at least one previously hosted Children’s Business Fair. Argo said some businesses have stayed in the program for around five years. These businesses will follow the veteran entrepreneur track.
The library has updated the veteran and regular track to allow for more feedback and expectations. Argo said the first-time participants focus on the basics of starting and running a business, whereas the veteran entrepreneur track focuses on innovation and growth.
“That's one of the reasons that we wanted to do the veteran track this year,” Argo said. “We want to see, ‘What are you improving every year?’ I want the people who are doing feedback for the kids during the business plan review sessions to be thinking about them as a viable, established business.”
One of the young veteran entrepreneurs,11-year-old Carina Murray, is the owner of the business Heart-to-Heart. This year is Murray’s second year returning to the Children’s Business Fair; in her first year, she nearly sold out of all her products. Murray sells a wide range of arts and crafts such as magnets and portraits and will have a new line of comics releasing this year. Murray said the theme of her business is giving.
“I like to promote my products as gifts, because people can give them from one heart of a person to another,” Murray said. “I try to reach from heart-to-heart.”
Once participants have submitted their business plan and presented a pitch to parents and other participants, they are then allowed to participate in the market day event — the fair — where participants set up booths to promote and sell their products to the Maryville Community. They will also be judged based on their business presentation and their idea for the chance to win $100 and a certificate.
The market day will be March 21 at the First Baptist Church in Maryville.
This story is brought to KXCV-KRNW by The Northwest Missourian, the campus newspaper of Northwest Missouri State University.
