“Entrepreneurial mindset is a necessary life-skill that needs to be developed from school days to prepare kids to succeed in today’s knowledge-economy”
Jobs like App Developer, Social Media Manager, Solar Engineers and many others didn’t even exist 10 years ago. In 2006, Facebook was in its infancy, Twitter was being launched, and nobody had iPhones. Ten years on, the world is a very different place.
Jobs exist now that we’d never heard of a decade ago. One estimate suggests that 65% of children entering primary school today will ultimately end up working in completely new job types that aren’t on our radar yet. So the question now arises, is our forthcoming generation prepared for jobs that don’t even exist yet? How can we teach them skills that will be helpful for them to succeed in any future career?
Enter Kidpreneurs Camp!
Kids between the age of 12-18 across Pune City have been participating in this entrepreneurial program to develop entrepreneurial thinking by practically implementing a real business plan! During this 12-day camp participants work in small groups to ideate, create, validate and actually implement their business plans!
One such group of kidpreneurs created a survey portal by the name of FeedBook that served as a direct link between businesses and consumers without the scope of negative publicity online. This way the owners would receive feedback that would help them enhance their business and consumers would receive incentives. The Kidpreneurs team not only built the website but also got three cafes to sign up for their service, all during the camp!
Another group of Kidpreneurs launched a surplus food distribution startup called TIMMS -. The idea of TIMMS was to form tie-ups with restaurants, collect the surplus food from their kitchens at the end of each day, then store, repack and distribute the food to the needy the next day.
A third group built a car pooling startup called ‘Pool It’ which aimed towards reducing traffic and pollution in the city of Pune. They did various surveys in the IT park of Hinjewadi to learn about the problems faced by commuters and their apprehensions in using car/bike pooling. They focused on the major problems of safety and availability and took measures like creating private groups, verifying identities and online tracking in order to address the issues.
All the groups gained hands-on experience by directly communicating with stakeholders. The kids also built websites for their respective projects, started Facebook groups, interacted with mentors and other stakeholders and got real users.
The kids were guided throughout by facilitators and various mentors. On the last day the participants prepared a final pitch to present their business plan, for which the parents, mentors and a role model were invited.
Kidpreneurs Camp enables to develop the 4C competencies amongst the children – Critical Thinking, Creativity, Communication and Collaboration.
Various group activities to bring kids out of their shells and teach them the value of Seva were also conducted in this workshop. Not only do such experiences instill lifelong skills like problem solving and critical thinking within kids, but also provide insights about the tools used in creating content for marketing of startups and understanding how to manage finances.
Are We Developing Our Children To Be The Change Leaders For The 21st Century? Will They Be Able To Participate & Succeed In This Global Knowledge Economy?
For further information about Kidpreneurs Camp log onto www.IamKidpreneur.com or call +91 909 668 6222