According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, 1 in 5 adults are in the process or have founded their own business within the past four years.

Logan County 4-H designed an entrepreneurship project to give youth a hands-on opportunity to learn about starting their own business. We partnered with Logan County FFA members that have an Entrepreneurship SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experience) and our local Farm Credit Mid-America Financial Officer to host an Entrepreneurship Day Camp. The youth were educated on starting their own business and developing their own business plan. The FFA members talked about their entrepreneurship experience and what they have learned along the way. The 4-Hers were able to brainstorm what business they would like to start, develop a business plan, a budget, how they would market their business, and how they would display their items. Once they had a plan, each 4-Her was given $100 to invest in his or her business. They were able to stand alone and have an individual business or they were able to pool their money together and have a partnership.

After the day camp, 4-Hers had two months to develop their products and businesses. They were given the opportunity to set up and sell their items at the Logan County Fair Kick-Off Day. After that day, they were able to evaluate their business plan and change what they wanted to. Some changed their business plan and some saw that they had a good plan and kept with it for the second day to sell.

  I created workshop materials and  flyers using Canva. We then took the information created and emailed it to parents and students for their future use in marketing. With the resources created I sat down with students and we went through each topic. These consisted of Marketing Your Business, Branding Your Business, Customer Service Tips, Business Budget,  The 4 P's of Marketing, and How to Create a Business Flyer.  During the workshop, each student was able to create their own flier for "Old Time County Fair" and "Sweet SummerTime at the Farmers Market."  These were two events students could set up and sell their products to the community.  4-H Entrepreneurship students also had the opportunity to participate as a vendor at the local Honey Festival in our county. We have 7 of these students who will have a chance to market their business to over 1,500 people on July 27th. Providing opportunities like these allow for personal growth, confidence and public relation skills and experiences for our youth. 

 One 4-Her said, “I learned to be a better salesman and communicate with people and buyers better.” Another said, “I learned about how you must invest in a business by buying supplies and then you must base your prices on that investment.”

We plan to continue this program this year. When asked what they would do differently, one 4-Her said, “I would sell a product that I can sell year after year and year-round and I would have more of it to sell.”

Through this program, each 4-Her can benefit greatly from this experiential education learning model. They can learn invaluable life skills from money management to customer service that they will use the rest of their lives.