One of the greatest gifts to our children and grandchildren is to teach them how to be an entrepreneur. Whether they have their own business or work for a large corporation, they will benefit from having entrepreneurial skills.
But how do you go about teaching your MiniMe the basics of business?
If you have your own business, you should get them involved from an early age. Children always want to be part of the grown-up world so they will gladly sweep the floor in your office or stack boxes in the storeroom. It is important that you pay them, and preferably on the same day every month, otherwise how would they learn the value of money?
Of course, the reason for this is not cheap labour, but rather so they can learn by observing what is happening in the business. As they get older, you can give them more advanced tasks. It is very important that you trust them to complete the task successfully. And that they are held accountable if they make a mistake or don’t do their job.
What if you don’t have your own business? Well, that’s also quite easily solvable. If you’re part of a community, such as a church or a club, you can organize a Young Entrepreneurs Day. That’s actually a great idea, even if you have your own business. If there’s one thing we have in common, across all cultures, it’s the well-being of our children, so it should be easy to get parents in your community involved.
However, the quickest way to arrange a successful entrepreneur’s day is to tell the children about it. Somehow the idea of making a little extra pocket money appeal to most kids.
In the process you teach them about finding the right product to sell (market research), buying stock or materials to make the products they are going to sell (procurement), and then to set a competitive selling price which will show a profit (more market research). Finally, they need a strategy on how to sell the product (marketing) and then how to physically sell it (sales).
You would also need to teach them how to manage the cash they receive, or perhaps process Zapper or Snapscan transactions. Afterwards, they need to count their money or calculate their sales and work out if they had made a profit.
And then it’s rinse, lather, repeat. Like with most things in life, it takes practice to make perfect and to really get the hang of it. Don’t be discouraged if your first attempt is a dismal failure. Just try again. And again. Until you get it right. Needless to say, it is a great way to spend family time and get everyone involved.
We often hear people say there is no future for our children in South Africa. Perhaps you think that yourself. And perhaps it is true. But if we support South African businesses and teach our children how to be good entrepreneurs there might be a different future ahead of us.
