Children’s Business Fair

Once a year, every Acton organizes a “Children Business Fair” at the local community where it operates. The event is not only for the school Eagles, but it’s open to anyone who wants to register. A few weeks before the event, a website, dedicated to the event, opens up, and any child who wants to register has to answer some simple questions. On the day of the event itself, each child receives a table in the shade, and the event is open to the general public, who can come and enjoy the children’s stalls.

During last weekend, the Eagles that registered were invited to Acton for a four-hour MBA that was all about entrepreneurship: Each child prepared his/her own business logo, came up with branding, analyzed the price they should charge vs. the costs of the business and also played a lot and ate pizza.

Yesterday was the children’s Business Fair of Acton Verona. To my delight, my own three children also chose to participate (one of them prepared a great game, the other chose to open a Bayblade stand and the third worked as a hired helper of another child). 30 boys and girls took part in the event and the mayor honored them with his presence and visited every booth to hear what the children had prepared.

In my opinion, this is a lovely event for two reasons:

1. The children prepare the products by themselves and experience the process of establishing a small business from one end to another. There were lots of juice stands (lemonade/orange juice, etc.) and lots of pastry stands (cookies/cupcakes), but there were also more original products, such as a child who sold his paintings (acrylic on canvas, breathtaking!) A girl who sold her own hand-made shirts, a girl who sold candles from natural materials with a variety of soothing scents.

• The event is very pleasant and communal. There were no advertisements for local businesses or an attempt to create a very pompous or excessive experience. Many men and women, who live in this small town, came and spent a pleasant afternoon together. I really liked the pleasant atmosphere at the event.

Of course, for Acton, it is an excellent event to advertise the school and its special philosophy, and indeed there was a stand for Acton that drew quite a lot interested people.

Here are some photos: