The Department of Economic Affairs, Trade and Industry / IDEA, as part of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Communication and Sustainable Development, together with their partners ActionCOACH, Santa Rosa, RBC Bank, and Aruba Bank, have organized an educational project for children between the ages of 9 and 13 years.
This “Kid$ BIZ Market III” project took place on October 3, 4, 5, and 7, 2022, at the Department of Economic Affairs, Trade, and Industry.
The children received entrepreneurial education and learned to recognize commercial opportunities. The children received a lot of information about business management and got the incentive to become future entrepreneurs.
They received information about products, customers, business plan, systems, service, promotions, and finances. They learned to generate money at an early age through commercial activities. They covered more topics during the first workshop Dave Martinus, Certified Business Coach of ActionCOACH Aruba, presented Get kids Started as an entrepreneur.
On the second day of the workshop Bringing the SDGs to the kids, The World we want, Vivian Loopstok-Geerman, head of the Sustainable Development Planning section of the Department of Economic Affairs, presented all 17 SDGs for sustainable development for Aruba and the world.
The children had the opportunity to choose which of the SDGs was most important to them and why they chose these SDGs. It should stimulate future entrepreneurs and make them more aware of the UN Sustainable Development Agenda 2030.
Ludwig Rasmijn of the Directorate of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Santa Rosa, presented the third workshop Making Agriculture Cool for Kids: Kids Agripreneur in the making. The children learned how to transfer plants from one pot to another and to take good care of them. They also learned how to plant and care for plants. The excitement was evident as they cultivate their plant.
In the fourth workshop, Creative Card Making Estella Brown-Thode taught the children how to make creative Christmas cards. In this workshop, the children had the freedom to use their creativity when making their Christmas cards.
Joanaila Geerman, Branch Manager of Personal Banking at RBC Royal Bank, and Nathaly Yoho-Lampe, Contact Center Manager at Aruba Bank NV, presented the fifth workshop, Financial Literacy: Earn, Spend wisely and Save.
The children learned how to make money by growing produce in their fields, how to spend money wisely and what that means, what they consider basic needs, and how to save money.
During the sixth workshop, Creative Snacks Making, they learned to make healthy snacks. Clarina Geerman of the Department of Economic Affairs, Trade and Industry helped the children make six different snacks. It was indeed the most enjoyable workshop.
Judella Trim, Business Development Advisor at IDEA, presented the last workshop, Business Plan for Kids. She taught the children how to make a business plan. The children learned all about a business plan and had the opportunity to create their business plan using a questionnaire for the company they wanted to start.
On February 28, 2018, IDEA started the project “Kidpreneur$ With Big Ideas”, \p for the children who assist the nine out-of-school care programs ‘Traimerdia’.
For children who do not attend Traimerdia, IDEA organized a Kid$ BIZ Market, with a diversity of workshops and activities to teach and stimulate the children to become entrepreneurs in the future. This project started in 2018 during the fall holidays, while the second part took place in the summer holidays of 2019. During the first Kid$BIZ Market, 32 children participated. In 2019, 31 children attended the workshops. This year 28 children participated in the workshop. Parents are very interested in these workshops.
At the end of the project, the 28 participating children received a certificate from the Minister of Economic Affairs, Communication and Sustainable Development, Mr. Geoffrey Wever, and Mrs. Suhailah Rooseman-Maduro, Acting Director of the Directorate of Economic Affairs, Trade and Industry.
IDEA is very grateful to its partners and presenters for their contributions to the realization of this project.
During the four days of this project, the children demonstrated commercial talent in Aruba. IDEA wishes all children the best with creating their products or services, which they will present during the Kidpreneur$ Bazaar in December 2022.
For more information about upcoming workshops and other activities, follow @Idea-Aruba or Facebook.
