BizFest - A Children's Business Fair

A Children’s Business Fair is an event that provides a platform for children to showcase their entrepreneurial skills by starting and operating their businesses. This exciting FREE event is an opportunity for kids ages 6-14 to showcase their innovative ventures. The community is invited to attend the business fair and purchase unique goods Spokane’s young entrepreneurs created.

Join us in encouraging and experiencing the young minds market, selling their creations, and feeling accomplished!

AmpUpSkill (www.ampupskill.com) was created to familiarize students with the idea of running a business, and being an entrepreneur is one of the key drivers in empowering our youth. A career as an entrepreneur is achievable, and that is what we can try to teach and support from the grassroots level. Hence, AmpUpSkill decided to become a facilitator of this event in Spokane. AmpUpSkill, a non-profit social enterprise, was curated to provide children with a platform where they can reach their fullest potential to shape them into ethical and empathetic entrepreneurs. It aims to make a difference in the lives of youth by providing them with all the resources, inspiration, and platforms they need to become future entrepreneurs.

Through initiatives like BizFest, the vision is to propose a localized entrepreneurship school program energizing and engaging local entities, universities, youth foundations, non-profits, corporations, and entrepreneurial communities to get directly involved to mentor, coach, or sponsor.

The goal is to bring the initiative to all Spokane schools and allow children to learn about entrepreneurship in their classroom and then provide them with a platform outside the school to be an entrepreneur for a day through business fairs, mentorship, and workshops, giving them a hands-on experience like any other STEM program. It will also help them explore entrepreneurship as a viable career path that inspires them to carve out their high school goals and further aim for a focused college degree.

The ability to risk converting their allowances or loaned money from parents into profit, learn current marketing techniques, gain soft skills and emotional intelligence, and above all, get a taste of being an entrepreneur out of the classroom setup is what AmpUpSkill hopes to facilitate. And, why age 6-14 yrs? Why not when they can open their bank account at 7 and start investing at 13? The shift is evident. Gen Z and Gen Alpha no longer belong to the Lemonade Stand era (not even legal in WA). They are creative trendsetters and risk-takers who are often inclined in fast, creative ways to learn, earn and have fun.