The Children’s Business Fair is the largest entrepreneurship event for kids in North America. The local one-day Children’s Business Fair is a culmination of ideas and hard work from great young minds. Kids develop a brand, create a product or service, build a marketing strategy, and then open for customers at our one-day marketplace. Experience young minds marketing, selling, counting money and feeling accomplished!
The Metro Birmingham Children’s Business Fair is a 501(c)3 Organization and our main focus is holding our fairs through the Greater Birmingham area. Our first fair was held on Saturday, April 21, 2018 at the Fairfield Civic Center (courtesy of the City of Fairfield, AL).
How did the Children’s Business Fair get started?
In 2007, Jeff and Laura Sandefer, along with a few other families, wanted to spark the sense of wonder and entrepreneurship in their children and the young children in their neighborhood. That year, there were SEVEN entrepreneurs and around 25 attendees. Now, there are over ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN entrepreneurs and 1400+ attendees.
What is the process & how can my child participate?
Young entrepreneurs first make an important decision: They hire themselves!
- Then, you’ll need to complete an application for your biz savvy kid to take part and pay the $22.00 registration fee. Your paid registration fee confirms your participation (pending clarification of any questions resulting from the application).
You are encouraged to apply and pay registration fee early, as participation is limited and is based on paid registration received. Upon completing the registration process, you will receive an email with complete details including a booklet to spark your children’s creative business acumen and a business planning worksheet. If your child can’t come up with an idea don’t worry, we’ll provide some ideas to get their creative juices flowing and we’ll offer guidance along the way.
Approximately 30 days before the fair, we’ll have a pre-event gathering for the entrepreneurs and their parents to learn about events leading up to and the day of the event. We’ll provide info and answer questions about planning the children’s business at every level: product, service, marketing, accounting, cost of goods, pricing, etc. And in this process, they learn a sense of wonder, the importance of hard work, taking responsibility, and gaining confidence in the next challenge.