Young Entrepreneurs Market

For the fourth consecutive year Acton Academy Guatemala organized its Business Fair. An event where kids (7-17) learn and put into practice what it means to earn from creating value to others. This time the fair was part of a larger event "Soñe Futuro".

In 2015 edition the stakes were much higher. First of all it was going to take place in a public venue (last year it was too but at a smaller scale) with expectations of thousands of visitors. Second they had three years of experience and therefore their projects had to be much better. Finally new rules limit the inter-purchases between the kids and parents (no bailouts).

The project is a full business experience. For about four months the Eagles developed their ideas, conducted market research to get feedback from potential buyers (previously they defined their segment), prototyped product. They made a complete cost analysis, forecast their sales and calculated their break even points. Also kids elaborated a marketing strategy with pricing, product branding, sales pitch and merchandising. In some cases they developed the product and sourced the production while others did the production themselves. Finally they put up their booths to sell, sell, sell. All funding has to be paid back to creditors and if thing don't happen as planned face the losses.

NUTS 4 NUTS

This year Mariafer decided to sell homemade peanut butter. She started considering varieties with other nuts but raw materials costs were too high making it difficult to sell. She scaled back to plain, chunky and honey peanut butter. Since she had some leftover nuts added a line of nuts in a bag. Financially she did OK, at least cover her costs and has inventory to sell in future days. Some of her key take-aways was that attracting customers is a challenge and it is not just a matter of yelling "peanut butter!!!!!". Also that forecasting is not easy specially when falling on the overoptimistic side.

TRIP TIPS

José Andrés took a more ambitious challenge. Probably inspired by our traveling anecdotes he created a game with traveling tips. A set of cards with tips arranged in different categories (i.e. pictures, travel arrangements, etc.). All printed, fastened and boxed to easy carry. The product needed a more complex sales pitch and one of his lessons learned was "Better to get 50 No's, and 1 Yes, than 50 Yes' and 1 No". It sounds weird but he later explained that after each NO he improved and tweaked his sales pitch, while getting only yes was like being a cashier at the store. Understanding the market and that a good ideas is not necessary a good product are other lessons learned. He still has to recover his investment and pay his bills but surely learned a lot. Now he wants to try to convert the game into an app after suggestions from customers and mentors. He is starting to learn how to code....

Seeing them face the project with a full roller coaster of emotions; excitement, frustration, joy, discouragement, stress, satisfaction, serenity, etc. is seeing them mature at high speed. They still have inventory to sell, new ideas to work on, and soon the 2016 edition of the Acton Academy Business Fair. Congratulations for another successful accomplishment.