Looking Through an Entrepreneurial Lens
1,800 young entrepreneurs participate in First Grand International Exchange Day.

By Linda Cruse

Children in charge were the order of the day at the First Grand International Exchange Day held on July 9 at Bartle Hall in Kansas City. About 1,800 children from Missouri and Kansas involved in 48 Mini-Society programs hosted by the University of Missouri Outreach and Extension 4-H After School Academic Program, converged on the hall to create an enormous marketplace. Mini-Society teaches entrepreneurship, economics and citizenship to students ages 8 to 12 through an experienced-based system.

With flags of their Mini-Societies displayed above their booths, children marketed and sold a variety of products, goods and services. From handmade jewelry created from seashells, beads and beans to purses fashioned from discarded jeans, young entrepreneurs hawked their wares and services in a massive entrepreneurial enterprise.

Fun Equals Learning
Participants created the self-organizing economic society from the ground up. They named it, created their own flags, developed their own currencies, formed their own government and started their own businesses, explained Neldra Moody Flint, educational training and development consultant for the 4-H After School Academic Program.

This event provided budding entrepreneurs a better sense of what it’s like to be an entrepreneur in the real world, where many different cultures and societies interact on a global basis,” she said. “The students have been working hard on their businesses since the second week in June. It turned out to be a fabulous day.”

The event was designed to provide both learning and fun, said Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, which sponsors Mini-Society programs throughout the United States through its financial support of the 4-H After School Academic Program. Schramm was a speaker at the event.

“The Kauffman Foundation believes it’s important to give young people a chance to showcase their creativity and imagination through an entrepreneurial lens,” Schramm said. “As kids run their own businesses within societies of their own making, they learn about entrepreneurship and good citizenship—and have fun at the same time.”

About Mini-Society
Dr. Marilyn Kourilsky, an event speaker, created the Mini-Society educational system in the early 1970s. Originally developed for traditional classroom settings, the program is also used in summer and after-school enrichment programs.

In Mini-Societies, students learn about entrepreneurism by creating and running their own businesses. In addition to learning the concepts of starting and running a business, students learn how businesses benefit the economy and have the potential to help the community.

The foundation currently operates 48 Mini-Society programs through collaborative partnerships with the 4-H After School Academic Program. Programs operate in 12 Freedom Schools in Kansas City and St. Louis; parks and recreation community centers in Kansas City, Columbia, Warrensburg, Mo. and Johnson County; the YMCA of Kansas City; Guadalupe Center; Kansas City, Missouri public schools; Boys and Girls Clubs in Kansas City and Columbia; and Kid Zones in the Kansas City, Kan public schools.

The foundation also sponsors Mini-Society through in-school programs, and via other after-school and summer programs all over the country. Mini-Societies are located in nearly every state in the country.

Event Preparation
Certified trainers lead the Mini-Society programs.

“The Kauffman Foundation provides a three-day training seminar during the first week in June for the trainers,” Flint said. “They then facilitate the programs throughout Missouri and Kansas beginning the second week in June.”

Students start their own businesses, providing goods and services, and establish their own governments.

“They also hold auctions to determine the demand and set prices for the various products and services they have developed,” Flint said.

Event Highlights
In the past, the 4-H After School Academic Program has conducted Mini-Society International Exchange Days for smaller groups of up to 300 students, Flint said. “This is the first year we’ve brought all of the students in the Mini-Societies together.”

The event started at 12:30 p.m. and concluded about 2:30 p.m. Highlights included the international exchange, with students exchanging their individual currencies at a special exchange station for “Kauffman bucks.”

“We were pleased with the event and the results,” said Flint. “It took about six weeks to plan the event and it was quite an undertaking. But seeing all of the students interacting made it well worth the effort.”

Linda Cruse is managing editor of Kansas City Small Business Monthly.